Every Good Boy Does Fine
by closetfan
Summary: When a giant freighter carrying explosives catches fire, the eleven trapped firefighters need Spiderman to get out alive. Chapter 13 up.
1. the freighter

The local Irish Pub buzzed with activity as Peter and MJ tried sitting down to a quiet dinner in a corner booth. The two TVs, hanging from the ceiling covering the sports news of the day, were completely ignored by the young couple in love. Since the day Mary Jane showed up at Peter's door and professed her love for him, through all the trials and tribulations, they had remained star-crossed lovers in each other's eyes.

There had been many scares in that brief time. At one point MJ planned to leave because she thought she couldn't handle Peter's death, which he had come so close toi. Another time, Pete was near to unmasking himself in an attempt to end a serial killer's murder spree on his behalfii. But they had endured. And tonight was a celebration that they made it this far; nine months, 1 week, 3 days and 2 hours. With an occasional glimpse outside looking at the snow, purely from habit when he heard sirens, Pete was able to relax and ignore New York's call for their tireless Superhero. The city had survived without him before, it can do so for a few more hours.

He gazed into pools of emerald green eyes as he listened to MJ's latest complaint about a compulsive fan. He didn't hear a word she said, he was just hypnotized in her mesmerizing orbs. The trance broke when she looked away.

"What's wrong, MJ?"

"Listen."

"I don't hear anything but the TV."

Turning back to look at her fiancé, "That's just it Peter. We're in a pub and no one's talking."

They peered around the high backboard of their booth and noticed everyone was riveted to the TV.

"…large fire aboard a freighter carrying highly flammable and explosive cargo. Several firefighters are now believed trapped below deck when an explosion destroyed the stairs," the newsman stated flatly with pictures of the blaze glowing behind him.

Mary Jane looked at Peter and saw the anguish in his eyes. So often she knew that he wanted to be with her, but was called away to duty. Tonight he made her a solemn promise to be with her. And he was keeping it. He said nothing and did not move. But she could read his face as easily as he read physics books. She also knew that this was a major disaster. From what she could hear, if that ship blew up it could take half of the city with it. In fact authorities were already starting an investigation as to why such a dangerous ship was allowed into New York's Harbor.

"Go Pete."

He broke his stare from the TV, "huh?"

"I said, 'go'."

"But…"

MJ raised her delicate hand to stop any further protest. "I know you want to keep your promise. But lives are at stake. Many lives. Lives that I know you can save. I can't be so selfish as to keep you to myself for just an evening's dinner when people stand the chance of never sharing another meal with a loved one again. Go!"

He hesitated.

"Go!"

Standing up and leaning over the table, he kissed her tenderly, lovingly and long. He was about to say, "I'll make it up to you," when he realized that he had said it too often, it was just his way of saying good-bye. He'll never make it up to her. He'd just have to try and spend another evening with her when there were no major crises.

He slipped out of the bar, quietly and quickly without anyone noticing a geek transforming into a superhero.

X o x o

Spider-man sat atop one of the warehouses at the dock watching the freighter burn in the middle of the harbor. The whole thing was ablaze. Even at that distance he could feel the heat through his costume and with it snowing. A few minutes ago, he had pulled a fireman aside and asked about the situation. Angst lined his face when the fireman said eleven firefighters were trapped under the flames in the belly of the boat. The firetugs were trying to put out the flames near a hatch which was the best chance for their escape. But the blaze was ravenously fed by the combustibles on board.

He sat there thinking. The fireman had mentioned that there was a cargo door on the side of the ship used for loading and unloading. It was just above the waterline normally but with the ship now listing, water covered the bottom couple of feet. The tugs couldn't get to it since the latches were at the bottom of the door.

"Think, Spidey. Think." He had two problems to work out. How to get out there and what to do when he got there. He looked at the gap and figured he could slingshot himself that far. Having done it numerous times before, he had to make sure his aim was true. He needed to land near the cargo door, and not in the inferno above, using enough force to go the distance but not so much as to splat onto the side.

He would not have hesitated even a moment going over there, but a small thread of fear left over from when a sniper almost ended his life still spun its own web through his emotionsiii. He knew he had to do it. And he was going to do it. He just needed more time to calculate what to do than what he would have done, say, just a year ago.

A small roman-candle-like explosion ripped from the stern of the boat, jarring Spider-man from his computing mode into action. He chose two buildings as the base for his slingshot. Webbing in place, he took a deep breath and started to stretch the gossamer thread. When he could go no farther, he let out a groan and shot himself through the air.

In what seemed like a soaring eternity, he wondered if he was nuts. First he thought he was going to fall short and end up in the water which wouldn't be so bad. But then it felt like he would overshoot and end up on the deck, a barbequed bug. When he realized that he was right on target, he feared he was going too fast and would end up impaling himself in the side of the ship.

"What was I thinking?" was his last thought before he struck the freighter. Although he hit harder than he would have liked, aim was perfect. He clung to the ship just inches away from the cargo hold door. He could feel the heat under his boots and through his gloves already.

"Spider-strength, don't fail me now!" He grabbed the upper corner of the bay doors and tried to pry them open.

"C'MON! GIVE!"

A groan escaped his lips as the blood vessels in his neck and temples bulged under the costume from the strain. His fingers snapped off the narrow crack bending back some fingernails. "Dammit, I can't get a good enough grip on the steel plate." In frustration, he pounded the corner of the hatch with his fist. He attacked it again and again. Even when blood from his mashed knuckles seeped through his glove, he continued to hit the corner of the door until the metal bent under the assault and the corner warped outward enabling a good solid grasp. Feet firmly planted against the hull of the ship, fingers gripped tightly on the door, he pulled. The latches squealed in complaint against the strain. With a final cry, the door peeled open, creating a hole large enough for a human to easily fit through.

Spider-man slipped inside and was almost overcome by the heat. "Where are you?" He knew the men were on this level, but this was a huge ship. He webbed as much as possible to avoid touching the scorching surfaces. He opened one water-tight door and peered down the smoke-filled hallway. "Where are you?"

He stopped for a moment. If he searched this level of the entire ship, he would be baked to well-done before he could save anyone. He had to think, where would the fire fighters go to get off the ship? _To the hatch that the tugboats were trying to put out the fire at the bow!_

Using the ceiling to attach his webbing, he swung down the corridor towards the front of the boat. Just as he approached a set of stairs, he saw someone rushing down them. "Hey, you!"

The fireman, startled, looked around, "Spider-man! What are you doing here?"

"That's a dumb question. Now where are the others?"

"Upstairs. How did you get in?"

"Through the cargo bay. I got it opened. Call the others. That's the only way out." Urgency threaded throughout Peter's voice.

The other firefighters responded to the radio call from their comrade and pouring down the stairs like water released from floodgates.

"Just go through the opening I made. Jump right into the water. The fireboat will pick you up," he instructed the lead man. He counted the men as they bounded down the stairs and around the corner out towards safety. When the last person was out, Spider-man looked up worried. He was told there were eleven men stuck in here. He counted only nine. Where were the other two? With the rest of the firemen out of voice range, he couldn't ask them where the two missing people were. He faltered. Time was running out and he knew it. But could he live with himself if he left without at least looking for the missing fire fighters? His actions answered the self-query. He climbed up the stairs and headed towards the bow of the ship. Up here the flames were licking out of the vents and curling under the ceiling. His heart was pounding "In A Gadda Da Vida" inside his chestiv. The more he searched the more he felt it was already too late for them. Too late for him.

X o x o

"C'mon, hurry!" A crewman aboard the firetug waved frantically at the last man in the water. "Hurry, she's gonna blow."

As the last of the firefighters scrambled on board, the tug turned and sped away. Motors smelled of burning oil as they were pushed beyond their capacity. "Where's Spider-man?" the last man asked. All he saw were head shakes and shrugged shoulders. "Didn't anyone see him come out?"

Anxiously he turned and faced the ship. "He's still in there! We have to go back and get him!" He turned to the boat captain, "Turn around. Go back!"

"No way. That freighter's going to blow. And even at this distance we'll all be flambéed if she does."

Even though he knew he could not be heard, he still yelled at the burning hulk, "Spider-man! Get out. Get out now!"

As the tug raced away, all eyes were on the floating inferno. Waiting. Waiting. Hoping to see Spider-man emerge from the only escape route.

X o x o

MJ opted to stay and eat since the food was already ordered. Besides, she could watch the news with the rest of the patrons. Sipping her diet coke she felt what she thought was an earthquake. Although rare, the east coast still had them and this sure felt like it. It wasn't until she heard gasps behind her that she looked back at the TV and saw that the cargo ship had exploded. The detonation took out the TV camera and the screen went blank.

She stared at the vacant set for a while until the bartender tried another channel. Ironically it was News4 New York that was still in operation. The only station that took video of the sniper attack on Spider-manv. "….. several warehouses are now on fire, and Dock #10 is fully engulfed. We haven't been able to see the rescue boat caught in the firestorm. Reports are coming in that windows have been blown out up to 5 miles away and the explosion could be felt as far away as NJ.

"Where's Spider-man?" MJ whispered. "Please tell me where he is."

A/N. The author generally releases new chapters within a week. If you notice no update then the muse got pissed. You don't want to piss off the muse! Reviews keep the muse very happy.

i See other Spider-man fanfic "Through Trials and Tribulations"

ii See other Spider-man fanfic "We All Can't Keep Secrets"

iii See other Spider-man fanfic "Through Trials and Tribulations"

iv Song by Iron Butterfly, one of the first songs to take up the entire side of an album

v See other Spider-man fanfic "Through Trials and Tribulations"


	2. sweatshop

Margarite brushed a wayward strand of hair from her face with her arm. It fell back and stuck to her sweaty forehead. Even though it was snowing outside, her basement apartment was always hot when she did laundry for her customers. While closing the steam press on a pair a trousers, she felt the floor shake and instinctively dove under the old metal desk fearing an earthquake. As a young girl she had survived several large quakes in her beloved Mexico. But the movement stopped faster than she anticipated. Climbing out from under the desk, she greeted her 16 yr old son as he emerged groggy from his bedroom.

He rubbed one eye, "What was that?"

"I think it was an earthquake. But it was so short, I'm not sure."

She turned and reached for the door to check outside for any clues as to what that was. With her hand hovering an inch away, the sound of a large object landing on the metal trash cans in the stairwell outside startled her back. When her heart slowed down to normal, she smoothed her skirt, then cautiously opened the door.

She cried out, "Madre de Dios!" then blessed herself.

"What is it, Mamma?"

X x x 

Mary Jane sat stunned in her seat at the Pub. _Where would be the first place Peter would go to or call?_ She should be there. She looked at her purse. _Of course, he would call her on her cell phone_. She pulled it out to check the battery. Now was not when she wanted it to be low. She let out a small sigh of relief. It was fully charged so she placed it within easy reach on the table. She knew she would hear from him as soon as he was able to contact her. **Which had better be soon**!

She fought to look up at the TV. She knew Peter had been there. That boatload of firefighters leaving the freighter proved he was there. He's the only one that could have gotten them out. But no one was saying anything about seeing him or knowing his whereabouts. They were too busy looking for those men in the tug that had been caught up in the blast.

When her phone rang, MJ snatched at it with such alacrity that she knocked it off the table and onto the floor where it slid under the benchseats. Cursing as she went crawling for it, "Please don't hang up. Please don't hang up." Her fingertips tagged, then snagged the small fliptop and she hurried to answer it.

"Hello? Peter?

"Oh, hi Louise. Yeah, the Pub that Pete and I went to tonight has two TVs which are both focused on the fire."

She sat and listened, wishing her friend to hurry up and finish. She wanted to leave the phone line free for Spider-man to call to say he was alright."

"Yeah, it's something isn't it? Listen Louise, our desserts just arrived. I'll talk to you later, ok?" She hung up before Louise could get another word in. She hated lying to her close friend, but she wanted…no make that needed her off the phone. Then with dismay, she realized that she had answered the phone asking for Pete. She hoped Louise didn't pick up on that since she just insinuated that **their** desserts had just been brought over.

She placed the phone back on the table and stared at it, wishing it would ring, **willing** it to ring. Ever since she showed up at his doorstep almost a year ago, he had been so good at letting her know he was alright. A few times she had a fright, but within minutes of the media plastering the news all over the airwaves, he had called. It would be quick, especially if he had more work to do, and it would be collect, with no pockets for his own cell or change for a payphone. But he proved to be responsible about that aspect of his life. So there she sat willing her phone to ring.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when it rang again, "Hello?"

"Oh, hi Aunt May. No, Peter's not here right now."

She listened to a worried May.

"Actually, I think he is down at the docks, taking pictures for the Bugle," she lied. But she felt, just in case, _don't think that_! But in case something did happen, at least Aunt May knew he was in the area. When the elder woman sounded stressed over the news, MJ hid her own anxiety, "Don't worry Aunt May. I'm sure they're keeping all reporters out of harms way. The police are good like that. I'll have him call you as soon as I hear from him. Ok?"

She hung up and looked to the news again. Bodies were being pulled out from the water. Bodies of firemen who thought they had made it to safety. _Will no one say anything about seeing Spider-man?_ The newsman kept droning on and on about all the damage, the raging inferno and the possibility that there were still more chemicals to explode. But from the looks of what was left of the ship, she didn't see how. Attention shifted from the freighter which had started sinking, to the docks where several warehouses were now on fire. Focus switched to what explosives or harmful chemicals existed in those buildings. The brotherhood, having no time to mourn their dead, concentrated on putting out the new infernos.

Mary Jane wished she had someone to talk to. Someone who knew. Unfortunately she never met any of the people from the Spider-man Anti-Defamation League that Peter had talked abouti. She knew a few first names but that was all. Even if she did know how to get hold of any of those people, she would have felt awkward leaning on them for comfort when she had never met them before. She thought of Harry. Tears shimmered as she thought of her dead friend. So, she sat alone, in the booth at the pub, waiting for a call.

X x x x 

"Mother of God," Margarite said again in English as she stared at the source of the ruckus.

Being a foot taller than his mother, Juan Pedro peered over the top of her to see what she was looking at. A smile quickly flashed across his face, "Do you know what this means? We'll be rich! We can leave this hell-hole of an apartment. You won't have to do laundry eighteen hours a day anymore."

She looked at him puzzled, "What do you mean this will make us rich. All I see here is a dead man."

"But don't you see? See what's left of his outfit? Don't you know who that is?"

She looked back at the bruised, battered, and broken body of a young man crumpled beside the trash cans, snow forming a frigid blanket over him. She then noticed the still smoldering remains of his red and blue outfit it's which she had seen adorning the front page of the Bugle so many times. The mask was gone as was most of his top.

"Spider-man. I read the papers. But how does his body make us rich?" Anger weaved throughout her voice.

"We sell his identity to the highest bidder before we turn it over to the police. It's not like he's going to have to worry about it anymore."

She turned back and studied the still figure, sadness leaking into her heart. Such a young man, one who did so much for the city, should end up like this. His body being auctioned to the highest bidder. It didn't seem right. It was not dignified. It was not moral. In fact she considered it sacrilegious.

She pondered the dilemma, and it was a dilemma since they really could use the money. While looking at the young hero, she thought she saw something. Did his eye just flicker when a snowflake landed on his lashes? She stepped closer and leaned over the body. Where there thin tendrils of plume escaping his lips? Trembling, she reached down and put her fingers on the inside of his wrist. Immediately, upon feeling the odd texture of skin she dropped his hand as if she were holding a hot poker searing her flesh. Without touching it further, she studied the bizarre webbing patch. Still queasy, she opted to take the pulse from his exposed neck.

Motioning to her strapping young son, "Hurry, he's alive. Get him inside out of this weather."

Obeying his mother, Juan Pedro only succeeded in lifting the heavy hero by the shoulders to drag him inside.

"Bring him to your bedroom."

"My bedroom? Why? What if he dies on my bed?"

She knew it was unfair to ask her son to vacate his own room, especially if Spider-man did expire on Juan's bed. She looked around the cramped space, and sensing how cold the injured man must be, pointed to where the space heater radiated warmth. "Let me set up some blankets over there on the floor. You can put him there when I'm done."

Once that chore was completed, she turned to her son, "He's smaller than you, go see what clothes you have outgrown. Maybe something will fit him." Her attention focused back on Spider-man. He was badly injured and burned. He needed a hospital, that she knew, but she also realized that he needed to keep his identity a secret. She would wait until he woke up, and hopefully he would let her know if there was someone special he trusted. Until then she would dress his wounds.

Juan Pedro returned with a sweatshirt and sweatpants. She looked up at him and commanded, "Bring me some hot water and soap. Then go get the antiseptic from the medicine cabinet." Before he could leave to follower her orders, he saw her pulling off the remains of his outfit. "Mamma! What are you doing? He has nothing on under that"

"It is not like I haven't seen what makes a man, a man, Juan. These threads are about to fall off him anyway. Besides, I need to dress his wounds. I am doing nothing more than nursing him. Now get your mind out of the gutter and do as I ask."

Although professional when she spoke to her son, underneath, she still couldn't help but admire the sculpted body of the young man.

When Juan returned with the antiseptic, he stared uncomfortably at his mother working on the naked male. His trance was broken when she asked, "Help me turn him over, I need to work on his back, too."

Margarite looked up when her son did not move at her request. "What's wrong? I asked you to help me roll him over." Sensing the teen's unease at watching her work so nonchalantly on him, she pulled a blanket over the bottom half of her patient. "Better?"

Still awkward, he obeyed his mother and turned him over.

"Oh my." She gasped when she saw his back. "I have never seen so many holes in one person before. What do you think caused this?" She examined one particular wound, and pulled out a large, odd shape chunk of metal. "Well he wasn't shot."

"Shrapnel," the boy stated flatly.

"What?"

"It looks like shrapnel. Pieces of metal that go flying when something explodes. It's in our history books. Mines are made with extra metal, so that when they explode, more damage is done. Kills more soldiers in one bang than with bullets."

She looked at her son and saw how somber he was when he spoke of such carnage. "But there is no war here. How would he get hit with something like that?"

The boy thought for a moment. Shrugged his shoulders, then brighten when he did think of something, "The earthquake. Maybe it wasn't an earthquake."

"Something that big would be on the news." He turned on the TV.

They had the set on but a few minutes before they received the answer. "I was right…look at that!" Juan pointed at the screen. He then looked at the man with puzzlement and awe. "He survived that? The dock is over a mile away."

"So, do you still want to sell his identity?"

Young Juan Pedro looked down and shook his head.

"Now, do you think you can help me dress his wounds?" She saw the queasiness cross her son's face. "That's ok, just bring me what I need when I ask for it." She bent over her new charge and started pulling out the smaller bits of metal and debris.

Juan needed to look away. Once his mother had finished cleaning and dressing, she struggled to put the sweatpants on her young patient. There was just something about watching her work that close to a naked man. Although he himself has been without clothes and with a girl before, seeing his mother like that… he just couldn't handle it. He walked into his bedroom.

Before Margarite could put the sweatshirt on, the wall-crawler's eyes fluttered. "Spider-man? Spider-man? Can you hear me? You're safe, here. Can you hear me?"

He blinked, and slowly focused on the tired-looking woman talking to him. "Spider-man. I have given you first aid, but I think you should go to a hospital. Is there someone you trust? Someone who can help?"

Juan came back out when he heard his mother speak.

"What happened?" Spidey slurred.

"You were in an explosion. The large freighter in the harbor went up like fireworks. Spider-man, you landed outside our door. That's over a mile away!" Juan volunteered eagerly.

"Spider-man? What's a Spider-man?" the young hero asked before slipping away again.

The woman and her son looked at each other.

i See other Spider-man fanfic "We All Can't Keep Secrets"


	3. a friend in need

The bartender called, "Five minutes folks. We close in five."

MJ sat alone in the booth still staring at the news. Her fiancé wasn't mentioned at all. Although several firemen were pulled alive from the water, none were able to comment and all were rushed to the hospital. She wished she could go there and ask them where Spider-man was. But they were probably in no condition to talk to her. Then she brightened. She knew who she could call for help and support; the doctor who took care of Pete when he was shot. Although Peter had maintained contact with him, she didn't have his number handy. She rushed out of the pub and hailed a cab. A dark sedan pulled up next to the curb. With a strange glint to his eye, the driver asked, "Can I give you a ride, Miss Watson?"

Taken aback that he knew her name and thinking about the weird fans she'd she had the displeasure of meeting lately she told him that she didn't take rides from strangers. Fear started to well up inside her and when a cab pulled directly behind the car she quickly ran back and got into the taxi. Still paranoid at that odd confrontation she asked the cabbie to take a round-about route and to make sure that the car was not following them. One of the negative aspects of becoming famous was that everyone seemed to know her. Didn't she have enough on her mind without someone creeping her out?

She fumbled with her keys trying to get into her apartment. Once inside, she bolted the door behind her. Dr. Jackson's number was easy to find, clearly marked right next to the phone. He had given Pete his home and cell numbers to call at any time. Although the invitation was given to him, she felt that she needed to talk to the good doctor and let him know her fiancé was missing.

A clear, "hello" came across the phone line although Mary Jane had been expecting a groggy-from-sleep voice.

"Dr. Jackson?"

"Yes?"

"This is Miss Watson, you may remember…."

She was cut off mid sentence. "Yes Miss Watson, of course I remember you. How can I help you? Is it Peter? Is he hurt?"

"Well, yes and oh, I don't know. I'm calling because I have no one else to talk to and I think Peter was on that freighter. Have you been watching the news?"

"Yes, I have been watching and truthfully was wondering if Spider-man was there. I didn't see him, but it isn't like him not to show up with fireworks of that magnitude. So are you saying he was there?"

"Uh, huh, and I haven't heard from him. He's always been so good in letting me know he was alright, especially after a particularly dangerous situation."

There was a pause. "Would you like to come over?" Genuine concern filled his voice.

"Can I?" Relief flooded through her. Finally someone to talk to who knew and understood.

"Come right over, I'll have a cup of tea ready."

X x x x 

A confused look came over Juan Pedro's face. "Momma, do you think he was joking?"

"I don't think so. Why would he? Unless uncertain of us, he tried to hide his identity knowing he no longer had his mask."

"So, what do we do?"

Margarite looked down at the unconscious man. "I don't know. But I'm afraid to send him to the hospital until he wakes up and let's me know what he wants.

X x x x 

Carl's forehead wrinkled with anxiety. "So, you aren't 100% sure he was on that ship?"

Mary Jane admired the middle-aged African-American doctor. He was incredibly concerned about the welfare of Peter and her.

"I didn't see him enter the ship if that's what you mean. But there's no way those firefighters got off without his help. And I definitely didn't see him get off. Can you go to the hospital and talk to those men?"

Dr. Jackson placed a warm hand on top of hers, "I will first thing in the morning. I don't want to arouse suspicion by calling on injured men in the middle of the night. Even though, I have to admit, I want to find out just as badly as you do if young Peter's ok."

She looked into his eyes and saw worry dancing behind the quiet bravado.

X x x 

Juan Pedro assisted his mother up from the floor. "Go to bed. You need to get some sleep. I'll stay up with him."

She kissed him and left without argument.

He sat against the wall just watching the injured man. Periodically Spider-man would thrash about in a fever induced nightmare but then relax. The boy studied the sweat-glistened face. It was hard to believe that he had the unmasked hero lying right here in front of him. He looked at every line, every angle of that face and wondered what made it so different. He looked like any normal person with the exception of the small area of skin just inside his wrists. He could be any average Joe on the street, his features non-descript. As he started to speculate of how this guy became Spider-man, whether he was born to it or something else, his head nodded down to his chest.

Juan banged his head against the wall as he was startled awake. He rubbed the sore spot, "owwww," and wondered what woke him up. He looked at his charge and saw no change. But something had brought him out of sleep. Then he heard it, "thirsty."

It was faint. He looked once again and realized that his patient was awake, barely. He was calling for something to drink.

"Hang on Spider-man. I'll go get you a glass of water. Be still."

Margarite, who was having trouble sleeping, heard Juan speak and got up to investigate. Upon entering the main room, she saw her son getting a glass of water. "Is he awake?"

The boy turned around, "Yeah, he was. Said he was thirsty."

She knelt down next to her patient. "How are you feeling?"

"Thirsty."

She took the cup from her son and held it to the young man's parched lips. He coughed with the first couple of swallows, eliciting a soft moan. As he looked up at the woman, she saw that his eyes were glazed over with confusion.

"Where am I?"

"You're in our home. It's not much, but it's warm and clean," she answered.

"Where's that?"

She gave the address and saw that he was still confused. "New York City?" she asked, looking for some comprehension.

Without giving away that he had any knowledge of what New York City meant, he asked, "How did I get here?"

"We found you outside our doorstep. We think you were in the huge freighter explosion. Your outfit was mostly gone and your back full of wounds."

The young man looked around for a moment. "Explosion?"

Leaving nothing for the woman to read on his face he slid back into the thick black void again.

"I was hoping he would have stayed awake long enough for me to find out about the hospital," she said looking at her son. She saw dark circles under his eyes. "Why don't you go get some sleep. You have school tomorrow."

X x x x 

At 8:00 AM, Dr. Jackson walked though the doctor's entrance of St. Ignasio Hospital. "Good morning, Dr. Jackson," he heard from nurses, orderlies and other staff members. After returning the greetings he bee-lined straight the main desk in the ER.

"Good morning, Dr. Jackson."

"Good morning, Tess. Do you have a list of all the people who came in last night from the freighter explosion? I know several firemen and want to see if any are my patients."

"Sure….here you go." She handed him a clipboard with last night's admissions.

He jotted down several names, and handed it back. "Thanks."

He was batting zero by the time he got to the last name on the list. Either the injured were still unconscious, or didn't know anything. Daniel O'Hara was sitting up in bed watching the early morning news when Dr. Jackson walked in.

"You gonna stick me again?" the patient asked sourly. "I'm already a pincushion."

"No, I just want to ask some questions."

"What kind of questions?"

"About last night's explosion. Where you there?"

"Yeah. Spider-man rescued us from the freighter only for us to get blown out of the water," he answered somberly. "I heard half of the guys didn't end up making it after all that."

"I'm sorry. You said Spider-man rescued you?"

Danny nodded.

"Do you know where he is? Did he make it off the boat?"

"I didn't see him get out. Most of us were watching, waiting to see if he made it. The hole he made in the cargo door was the only way out. He didn't come that way. Hasn't he shown up anywhere?" The fireman's eyes welled up with tears.

Carl just shook his head.

Then with a glimmer of hope the fireman said, "Well, since no one knows what he looks like, maybe he's here without his mask. Got caught up in the explosion. He's under his real name and no one knows who that is, right?"

"You've got a point there. Maybe he's here as himself. I hope you feel better Danny."

X x x x 

Sitting in a small café Carl and MJ were having a late breakfast, which consisted mainly of coffee.

"Well, I have confirmation, Peter was on the ship. But no one saw him come out." Carl quickly grabbed Mary Jane's hands when she reacted. "But that doesn't mean we give up. He's Spider-man remember? He could have punched a hole from anywhere on the freighter to get out. We don't give up, ok? Promise me, we don't give up."

"Did you check out all the patients?"

He nodded., "No one fits Pete's description."

Her eyes moistened with a promise of tears.

He asked, "What are you plans for the rest of the day?"

"I have rehearsal. It may not be a good one, but it will keep my mind off …" She trailed away.

"I'll be at the clinic for the rest of the day. I have patients I must take care of. Stop by if you need to. Do you want to meet for dinner."

She nodded. "I need someone to talk to. Someone who knows. Thanks Carl."

He held tightl to her trembling hands, fighting his own fears.


	4. Spiderwhat?

"My back. MY Back!"

Margarite jumped, sending the alcohol soaked gauze soaring through the air, only to splat on the far wall. It paused for a moment suspended before sliding to the floor.

"I'm sorry Spider-man. I didn't know you were awake. I was just trying to clean your wounds."

Face down, he craned his neck to see who was talking to him but was unable to see a face. The young man tentatively got his arms underneath him and he pushed himself into a kneeling-sit position. The sheet that had covered the lower half of his body slid off. His eyes flew open when he looked down at himself and he grabbed for the cover.

"Where're my pants?"

Margarite got up and went over to a pile of laundry and pulled out the hidden remains of his outfit. "This is all that's left of what you were wearing last night. It seems like the rest was burned off."

She noticed the crimson color filling up his face, and picked up the sweats that her son had brought out for him earlier. Tossing them to him she said, "We put these on you last night. I took them off this morning only to dress your wounds."

At the mention of his injuries he focused back on the pain and slumped. He took a deep breath and looked around the small room cluttered with laundry equipment and piles of clothing.

He put the clothes on. "Where am I?"

"You're in my apartment. Don't you remember me telling you last night?"

He shook his head.

"We think you were caught up in the giant freighter explosion."

"We?"

"My son, Juan, lives here too. He's at school right now."

His brow furrowed in thought. "I think I remember you saying something about an explosion last night. Is that why my back hurts?"

She nodded. "I was hoping you'd wake up and let me know if there's a doctor you trusted. I think you need to go to the hospital. Being who you are and all."

Margarite was confronted with an 'empty-as-a-vacuum-filled-jar' stare.

As silence followed she tried to read the young man's face. He looked like he was thinking very hard.

He asked, "Why?"

"Why?"

"Yeah, why would I need someone special to go to the hospital?"

A light bulb went off in her head. She remembered him questioning his identity last night. So she asked, "Who are you?"

"Uh." He sat for an eternity, mouth opened, waiting for a name to pop out. "Uh… I don't know. I can't remember,"

"You don't know you're Spider-man?"

"Spider-what?"

"Spider-man."

His mind was a void with no beginning and no end. He just shook he head.

"What about your real name? Do you know it?"

"Real name?"

He deliberated for a full minute, but when his face slackened, she knew he didn't. "Well, then. Do you have any preference to which hospital you want to go to?"

"I'm not sure I should go. Tell me more about this Spider-man. Is he liked? Is he a good guy or bad guy? Is he wanted?"

"I can tell you, the people of the city love Spider-man, but unfortunately the editor of the Bugle seems to have a grudge against him. He prints lies. Lots of them. So, the police do want to question Spider-man about many of the situations he'd gotten into."

"Do you know anything about the person behind the mask? Can he go to the hospital?"

"I don't know anything. If we go to the hospital, they are going to want your name and address. I'm sure they're going to keep you if you don't remember anything, especially with wounds like yours. I bet it won't take long for the media to put two and two together and figure out you're Spider-man."

"How?"

"Spider-man's missing. You have odd injuries that can only be had from an explosion and can't remember a thing."

Desperation filled Peter's voice, "Where else can I go?"

"You can stay here. But, I'm not a nurse. I don't know much more than how to clean your wounds. Suppose you get an infection? Get a fever? I won't know what to do with you."

"Well, if it comes to that, I guess I'll just have to go to the closest hospital and hope for the best."

She stood straighter. "Now if we don't want you to get an infection I advise you let me finish cleaning those cuts and that includes the areas you so richly wish to hide."

Peter removed the sweats he had just put on but kept the sheet wrapped around him. He laid flat on his stomach, hesitating before relinquishing his grasp of the cover.

X x x x 

Juan barreled through the door, "Hey mom, how's our guest?'

"ASLEEP!"

A groggy Peter sat up. "I was."

Margarite was miffed at her son, "I expected you over an hour ago."

"Sorry. But I made a few extra bucks shoveling the parking lot at school. The areas the plows can't get into."

Spider-man perked up. "Parking lot?"

"Yeah, that's what I shoveled, a parking lot."

Peter lolled that word around. "Parking. Parking. Park. Parks."

Margarite showed some interest. "Do you know something about a parking lot? Maybe that's where you earn money, a parking lot attendant."

He just shook his head. "Parks. Park. Park. Parker. Parka. Do I need a parka for work? Am I a parker? Do I park cars?"

"Maybe that's part of your name." Juan offered.

"Parka? That's a funny name. Isn't it?"

Juan pulled out the telephone book. Well there are a lot of Park, Parkers, Parks, even a Parkhurst."

"Hmmm, Mr. Park. Mr. Parks. Mr. Parkers, Mr. Parkhurst. Doesn't sound quite right. Could something like that be my first name?"

"There's a Parker in one of my classes at school. It's his first name. He's always getting in trouble and the teacher is constantly screaming PARKER!"

The young man brightened. "Boy that sounds familiar. If it's not my name, I think its close."

Margarite smiled, "Parker it is. Do you want to pick out a last name?"

"No, not until I need one. Maybe I'll think of it by then."

X x x x 

Carl escorted MJ out of the diner-café. "I don't know about you, but I'm coffee'd to death. I'm not going to sleep for a week."

"Even without the coffee, Dr. Jackson, I won't be able to sleep until I find out what happened to Peter. The explosion happened yesterday, why haven't we heard anything?" A lone tear rolled down her cheek.

He held her hands in his, "Mary Jane, I have a few ideas where to look. Please keep your hopes up. Remember, he has tremendous healing powers. Now, go home, charge up your cellphone and charge up yourself. Get some sleep and keep your hope alive."

She looked at the kind gentleman before her. For a moment she had wished she had him as a father, so kind, so understanding. What he did came from the heart. She reached up and gave him a tender peck on the cheek. "Thank you Dr…"

"Uh! What did I tell you earlier? It's Carl." He squeezed her hands.

She blushed. "Thank you…Carl."

"Here's your cab." He opened the door for her.

He bent over and softly spoke, "Please Mary Jane, try to get some sleep."

He watched her cab pull away, then raised his hand to hail another. As a taxi pulled up he thought, _"Tonight's my lucky night. No waiting."_

X x x x 

Across the street, ice blue eyes were trained on a pretty redhead as she left the coffee shop with a black middle-aged gentleman. Holding his hands, she kissed him on the cheek. There was a brief hesitation before she let go of him. "Hmmmm, it's not good to mix races my beautiful Miss Watson. You ought not to tease him like that. And he is way too old for you, too."

Black gloves wrung the steering wheel in anger.

"Why can't you see me? I have been to every performance of every play you've ever done. Why can't you see me? Can't you tell that I am the one for you? I would put you on a pedestal, worship the ground you walk on, be your everything. You would be treated like the queen you are. Neither your new black boyfriend nor the nerdy geek **can give you what I can**." The last sentence was emphasized with a blow to the steering wheel.

Eyes squinted at the dark skinned gentleman as he held the taxi door open for the young actress. He leaned into the cab for a moment before standing and closing the door. The yellow car sped away. "You can't have her, buster. You're not the right age or color for her. You're not her type at all. YOU CAN'T HAVE HER."

He got out of his car. The skeleton of a man, swallowed by a black coat, stood and waited for a break in the traffic. In his haste to cross he didn't notice until it was too late that the African-American had hailed his own cab and was departing the curb. The stranger screamed when he reached the other side. "DAMMIT!"

With coat flapping, ignoring the harsh winter wind, he dodged traffic as he headed back for his own vehicle, but he was too late. His car faced the wrong direction, and he had already lost the taxi in a sea of yellow. He kicked the Buick in frustration, at a spot obviously kicked many times before, judging by the size of the dent.


	5. John Doe

Juan stood askew to the third floor window of his school looking out onto the street. He tried to remain hidden from view. Below were several Los Hermanos gang members. They had continued to push him to join them but so far he had found ways to put it off. If he didn't eventually become a gang member, however, he would end up their target instead. Although he wasn't big, the one thing in his favor was that he was an athlete, a good one, and smart too, not some 90 lb dork that would be easy to clean the street with. But still his stomach churned at the thought of confronting them.

In order to avoid them, he either needed to skip out of his last class a few minutes early or stay for some activity or another. During football and baseball season, he was able to use his teammates as cover, but on days without practice, he was a sitting duck. Today unfortunately, the teacher asked him to stay for just a few minutes asking if he would be interested in tutoring a younger student. Now, Los Hermanos were milling about, hanging out like they always do, just outside the school property. Juan knew that if he waited long enough they would eventually get bored and go find trouble. Trouble that Juan wants to stay clear of.

But he so wanted to get back home to check on the new guest and see if he was remembering anything. Maybe take advantage of who he was to get out of this predicament.

"JP?"

He turned to face his physics teacher.

"You're here late. Any interest in helping me set up tomorrow's experiment?"

"Yeah, sure, why not."

Mr. Richard remained quiet, hoping the silence might draw out some conversation from Juan. But his wait was not rewarded. "You seem awfully quiet today."

"Hum? Oh, it's nothing. Mrs. Rhinemueller asked if I wanted to be a tutor and I'm trying to think of how to approach the challenge."

Satisfied with the explanation, the physics instructor said, "That's very admirable of you JP. If you need any help let me know. Now, I need you to help me set up some circuits in series and some in parallel."

His stomach churned once more as he glanced out the window. Then he followed Mr. Richards to the lab.

X x x x 

"Juan Pedro. Where have you been? You know that I got behind in my work caring for Parker and that I needed your help today."

"I was asked to stay and help set up tomorrow's physics lab." He didn't want to worry his mother with the gang related problem. But with more enthusiasm he added, "And I was asked if I could tutor one of the younger kids."

"Tutor? That's wonderful. That will definitely look good on your college applications. Maybe even help earn a larger scholarship. I'm proud of you." She beamed with delight as she hugged him.

JP looked over at the empty blankets near the heater. "Where's Parker?"

"I'm here."

The high schooler looked over at the bathroom as Spider-man exited it carefully and hunched over. Each step seemingly a chore. He wore the sweat pants and was wrapped in a blanket.

"Where's the sweatshirt?"

Margarite looked at the young man who was obviously still in some pain, "It was sticking to his wounds, so we thought it best to let them dry."

She looked to her son, "Juan, please. The customers will be picking up their laundry in an hour and I'm not finished yet. You know that if I don't get paid, we lose this place."

"Momma, this place sucks." Juan had an uncharacteristic outburst, "Why don't we just get kicked out. Then the government will have to put us up in one of those nice new housing projects. We can live off welfare like so many people do."

"Juan Pedro Eduardo Tomas Noguerras!"

JP did not need to hear anything more coming from his mother. Spitting out his whole name was enough to tell him he was in trouble. "Sorry, Momma. It's just that I see so many people doing nothing and living better than us. What do you want me to do?"

"We'll talk later about our problem, but right now, see that pile over there? Put them through the steam press. I need to hand iron the delicate stuff."

Feeling out of place and in the way Parker asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You can sit and get better. You're in no condition to do anything physical right now."

"Ok, I can sit. But I can fold stuff as I sit."

"Momma, all these napkins…maybe I can give them to him after I press them."

"Ok. If you really want to help Parker. But I insist that you sit."

X x x x 

The Buick crept along the avenue periodically pulling into illegal spots or double parking. The driver kept a steely glare on the beautiful actress as she marched along block after city block. He didn't understand why she hadn't taken a cab or at least the subway. He knew that if she were his, he would chauffer her anywhere she wanted to go. Anytime. But he was getting annoyed at the slow pace he needed to drive to stay behind. "Where are you going Miss Watson? Are you meeting your geeky boyfriend? Or are you being unfaithful to him and meeting your brown sugardaddy? When you are mine, you'll never want to stray from me. You won't even want to think of anyone else but me. I'll keep you satisfied."

Mary Jane had a determined step to her walk. Dr. Jackson had called and said that he may have a lead on Peter. She decided on foot power only because of all the cab rides she had taken over the past 2 days, it was getting very expensive. And she knew that if Dr. Jackson had found out, he would pay for her. But he was already doing enough and she didn't want his money. Just his friendship and help were enough for her. She glanced up at the street sign, just 5 more blocks to go. She kept the brisk walk more to keep warm than reach her destination, even though if she could she would have run the entire distance. She was anxious to see what Carl had found.

A chill ran up her spine that was not related to the weather. Feeling an unease trickle into her bones, she slowed just enough to look around without tripping over something or running into someone. Behind her, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, but still the fingers of the ice princess kept dancing up her back. She faced forward and continued her determined march noticing that she had only 2 blocks left to go.

Approaching the small hole-in-the-wall coffee shop Mary Jane let out a yelp when a voice called out to her, "Can I give you a lift Miss Watson?"

"Uh, no. I'm there." After her initial reaction, she calmed down and focused. "Besides, I don't take rides from strangers."

"You aren't a little child Mary Jane. You don't have to listen to your mother any more."

She backed away from the ice blue stare and stepped into the warmth of the shop and prayed he wasn't going to come in. She let out the deep breath she had been holding when he pulled away from the curb. "Haven't I seen him before?"

"Mary Jane?"

MJ jumped at the mention of her name, she spun around almost colliding with Dr. Jackson.

"Are you OK?"

"Yes, Dr … Carl. I'm fine. There was a creepy fella outside that just gave me the willies."

With a concerned look to his face, he looked out the window, "Should we call the police?"

"No, it's ok, he's probably just a fan. You run into a few nuts when you're in my line of work."

"You sure?"

She nodded, "What do you have?"

"I found three John Does at different hospitals. One is an older man, so he wouldn't be our Pete. But the other two are younger. One fits our guy to a 'T', but the other one could be just a poor description. They said he had dark sandy hair. Peter just had dark hair, but I won't take the chance of an error by not checking him out. I thought since it's getting so late again we can hit the hospitals tomorrow morning. Today I was able to squeeze in a few more patients and open up the next couple of days. Giving me extra time to look."

"We could split up."

"You may have trouble getting to see the patient, so we'll have to go together. At least with this 'Dr.' in front of my name, I have carte blanche. We should visit Mary of the Cove Hospital first. That guy fits Peter. If not, then we'll go cross-town to City General and check up on the other fellow. Meet here tomorrow morning? Let's at least get a bite to eat first."

She reluctantly agreed preferring to have gone to the hospitals right then and there.


	6. Sugar Daddy

"I've got this." The doctor pulled out cash to pay for their quick breakfast of coffee and hard-rolls.

"I can pay for it Carl, you needn't pay for everything."

"Mary Jane, a few bucks isn't going to break me. Now let's see about getting a cab to Mary of the Cove."

As they got in the cab and left, they didn't noticed the dark dented Buick pull away from a no-parking zone. Cold eyes remained transfixed on the one of hundreds of yellow vehicles in front of him. He didn't want to lose them. If only he knew where they were going, he could find a shortcut and get there ahead of them. He knew the city better than anyone else.

The white-knuckle grip was masked by his gloves as he leaned forward, straining to keep the taxi in sight. He stepped on the gas at the risk of being seen, as he didn't want to lose his quarry.

"Miss Watson. Kiss your Brown Sugar Daddy goodbye."

The taxi lurched forward and to the left sending MJ sliding into Dr. Jackson.

"Sorry 'bout that folks. I just got wind of a gridlock up ahead. I know of another route that we can take to avoid it."

MJ looked up to the doctor, blushing.

Carl righted her back to sitting, "Don't worry, I know this part of town. I can tell if he's taking us for a ride. But, I believe he's probably right. Up ahead is a section of town noted for gridlocks."

She smoothed down her coat, her face still bright red. "Sorry about that. I wasn't prepared for the turn."

"Don't think twice about it. We'll be there in about half an hour."

"It can't be soon enough." She looked out the window, watching the ultra-bright day reflect off the passing windows.

X 

"Hungry?" Margarite held out a bowl of cereal.

Parker's mouth watered. He had been sleeping a lot but now found he was famished. He groaned as he reached for breakfast, his back only half healed, the scabs pulling at the tender flesh.

After he had downed the first bowl, she offered him more.

Even though he was still hungry, he declined, "Thank you. I'm full. But it was kind of you to share with me."

A smile creased her face, she knew he was still hungry. "Here, you must eat more. Your body needs nourishment to heal." She poured him another bowl.

With the spoon only half raised to his mouth, he looked Margarite in the eye, "I would like to help you out. At least work for your generosity. I know I can handle some chores, I'm feeling better. Really."

"Tell you what you can do. I'm still a little behind in my work, I can't afford the time to go to the store. If I give you a list, think you can pick up a few items from me from the corner grocer? Actually, it's a couple of corners down."

"Sure." Enthusiasm showed in his voice. He felt that at least he could earn his keep.

Margarite saw a frown pour over the young man's face as he nearly finished the second bowl. "Something the matter?"

"I was just thinking about my future. I haven't a clue where to go from here. I can't live with you forever. I don't even know where to start looking."

She was certain that she saw fear in his eyes, and realized that there was no way to fully comprehend what he must be feeling. When she had a bad day, she could always look forward to coming home to her corner of the world, even if it was a rundown hole-in-the-wall. And she had Juan. No matter where she settled, she would always have him. But this young man sitting in front of her has no memory of his loved ones. He had to have had someplace to lay his head, memories of the good he has done, people's lives he had saved, even how he got the way he was. Even memories as small as clothing. He had some but couldn't even recall where they were or what exactly he owned. She turned away from him, her eyes welling with moisture as the depth of his emptiness hit her.

Still facing away from him, she said, "Spider-man you have earned a place in my home, in anyone's home for that matter, with all the good you have done over the years. Mi casa es su casa."

"Please, just call me Parker. I don't know who or what a Spider-man is. It kinda skeeves me out. Here I supposedly have two identities and I can't even remember one of them."

"As you wish, Parker. But the offer is from my heart, you have a place for as long as you need it, here with me and Juan. I can fix something up; the two of you can share his bedroom."

X x 

The Buick screeched to a halt at the red light. The driver, clamping the wheel leaned forward, craning his neck to follow the yellow vehicle disappearing into anonymity. He pummeled the wheel with both hands, he could have made the light, all good New Yorkers do, but the idiot out-of-towner stopped in front of him. He looked at the license plates. Figures, they're from Jersey.

X 

"Hello, I'm Dr. Jackson. I called earlier."

The receptionist, a portly elderly woman in the pink volunteer's frock looked at him over her reading glasses. "You did? Just a minute, let me check."

She shuffled through a pile of various size and colored notes. She grabbed a lined yellow stickup, "Hmmm, Dr. Jackson. Doesn't say anything here about company. Can I see your ID?"

"She's my nurse, a new hire, and I'm showing her the ropes. Here." He flashed his Merci Hospital doctor's badge.

"Ok Doctor, what is it you needed?"

"You have a young John Doe listed. There is a slim chance he might be one of my patients and I want to check it out."

"Room 347."

Carl ushered his 'nurse' to the elevators. "Keep your fingers crossed."

They were silent the ride up to the third floor. Both deep in thought, both praying that the person behind the John Doe was their Peter. The car stopped and seemed to wait an eternity before opening its doors and releasing its temporary prisoners.

"Which way?"

Carl pointed to the left, "Looks like rooms 325 to 350 are this way."

The aseptic smell of the hospital was not pleasant to Mary Jane. Too many times she needed to be in this place and it was always when something bad had happened. She was busy crinkling her nose when she was tugged lightly to enter room 347.

They stood at the foot of the bed, speechless.

A women in green scrubs walked in, almost running into the visitors. She looked at the badge the Carl was wearing and asked, "Is there something I can do for you doctor?"

"Do you know where the patient from this bed is?"

"He passed away earlier this morning."

Mary Jane gasped, grabbing the jacket sleeve of her friend. He legs buckling.

While holding MJ up, he asked, "Did you ever find out who it was?"

The nurse shook her head, "Why, do you think you know who he was? He's still down in the morgue if you want to make a positive ID."

"Mary Jane, I'll go to the morgue, I want you to go to the lobby and wait. You don't need to see this."

"Oh yes I do!"

The ride down to the basement was slow. So slow that Mary Jane was beginning to wonder if the morgue was down in some subterranean chamber deep under the ocean bed. Her mind drifted to the book 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and expected to have the elevator doors open up to a sea of colorful fish swimming around. She looked over at Dr. Jackson; he was staring, blank face at the flashing lights as the numbers of the panel counted down from 3 to B.

"OH!" MJ threw her hands to her mouth and nose as the doors opened. The stench was horrendous. She grabbed for a tissue to help hold back the smell. Carl looked down at her, "You kind of get used to it when you work in a hospital. It's not all that bad."

She waved a small black insect away, eyes wide upon it.

"We call them morgue flies. Don't know what they really are, but they are in all the morgues that I have been in. They don't bite, they're just annoying. But the patients don't mind." He cracked a small smile in hopes of lightening the atmosphere they had entered.

An attendant in white came over, wiping the sandwich crumbs from his hands, "What can I do for you folks."

"Do you have a John Doe that came down this morning?"

"Yep. You think you might know him? Too bad that he won't get ID'd until he died. Follow me."

The drawer with the body was slid out and the sheet pulled back.

Mary Jane buried her face in Dr. Jackson's shirt and cried.


	7. Whack!

The light remained red as he pummeled the steering wheel of the Buick. The car had been the recipient of many an outburst before. However this time, the vehicle got revenge as the driver's hand missed and struck the dashboard. "SHIT! I think I just broke my wrist! GODDAMIT! Mother-effen-sonuvabitch!"

Even bundled up against the cold with ear muffs and hats, even with the car windows rolled tightly up, even being two cars away, pedestrians in the crosswalk could hear the tirade coming from within the dark sedan. They hurried across, lest the driver got mad enough to do something other than scream.

His hand laid on the horn even before the light finished the nanosecond needed to turn green. But no one moved. Letting his left arm rest on his lap until he could get to a hospital, he continued to pound the living daylights out of the horn with his right fist. It wasn't until a cop tapped on his window with his nightstick did the driver see that he couldn't go anywhere due to a gridlock. Reaching over, he rolled down his window, wishing he had the push-button-electric kind.

"Yes, Officer?"

"What's your all-fired hurry?"

The man with the intense light blue stare floundered a bit, trying to come up with a viable excuse. Only after hesitating did he lift his left hand, "I was on my way to the hospital, I think I broke my wrist."

"Well, you're not going to die from that injury. As soon as the traffic opens up, cut across and make a right. City General is just a couple blocks down. I'll ask the other drivers to wait and let you cross over."

"Thanks, Officer."

After he rolled up his window his rant returned, but not at the volume it had attained previously and without the aid of the horn. "Right? That'll take me in the complete opposite direction that I want to go in. I NEED TO GO LEFT! I gotta find that damn cab."

He looked up and noticed that the cop had opened up a path for him to make a right turn and was impatiently waving him on. With the urging of his swelling wrist, he decided he might as well go to the hospital. He'll just have to catch up to his girl later.

X x x x x

Parker was thankful that there was a bus-stop bench just outside the grocery store. The two block walk took everything out of him. He thought that he had never felt so tired before, and then snorted a laugh when realized that he couldn't recall if he had or not. He sat forward on the bench so as not to put pressure on his still aching back. He was wearing the sweats that Juan lent him and one of his coats. New York winters can be callous when it came to the cutting winds that sliced in and about the buildings.

A deep depression brewed within him. He knew absolutely nothing; where he lived, if he had family, his name, not even where his own clothes were. Would anyone be worried about him? Come looking for him? Mourn for him? As he sat, he moved his elbows to his knees and buried his face in his hands. He wanted to scream. He wanted to pummel something, someone. He wanted to sleep and never wake up. He wanted to wake up from this nightmare.

"Hey, kid. You alright?"

Parker lifted his head.

"You was moanin."

The young amnesiac saw the face of a concerned older man, a mechanic by his appearance. "Uh, yeah. I have a bad back and just moved wrong. That's all. Thanks for asking."

The auto jockey shrugged and sat down to wait for the bus. "Where're ya headed?"

"What?"

"I said, 'where're ya headed?' What bus you getting on, boy?"

"Oh. No, I'm not going anywhere. I was just resting. I'm going in there." He thumbed the grocery store.

"Well, sonny, don't rest too long. When school lets out, them juveniles like this corner to hang out. They's mean ones, they is."

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks."

Parker rose stiffly, nodded to the old man and entered the store.

When the mechanic looked at the now vacated spot on the bench, he raised an eyebrow. There were handprints embedded in the wrought-iron seat. He looked back at Parker, raising the other eyebrow.

X x x 

Juan grabbed the railing and swung down into the darkened stairwell, then held his breath. A lone drop of sweat trickled down the side of his face.

"Where'd he go?" Several pounding feet passed above on the sidewalk. Afraid that they'd hear him exhale, the boy slowly let the air of his burning lungs. Once he realized that they were gone, he gasped for the frigid air.

"Shit."

Bending over, trying to increase his air intake he was glad that he was an athlete. He just barely outran that small band from the Los Hermanos gang. The problem was getting serious now, and he feared that they were not going to invite him to a Sunday afternoon tea party, but make him an example to those who refuse to join them. He probably won't have been singled out if it weren't for his now ex-best friend who had joined them and pushed for his induction.

The chase left him shaky and he sat down on one of the garbage cans sitting on the bottom landing. He waited just a few more minutes to make sure the hoodlums didn't double back before he slipped onto the sidewalk and jogged in the direction of his home. Again he wondered if his guest would be able to get him out of his troubles.

X x x x x

As Parker entered the apartment, Margarite's smile faded. He looked so haggard; she shouldn't have sent him out in this weather just yet. '_But it was only two blocks_.' "Oh dear, you look exhausted, I shouldn't have asked you to do anything yet, it's too soon. Sit. Would you like a cup of coffee?"

Parker nodded as he sat with a plop. When she handed him the steaming cup, he grasped her hand and looked up at the attractive woman, his eye's shimmering on the verge of tears. "Who am I, Margarite? At least tell me about Spider-man. Everything you know about him. I have to know something about myself. Anything!"

She sat down next to him. "Let's see, you showed up, ummm, about nine years ago. I think. You just showed up one day, out of the blue."

"Doing what?"

"Pretty much what you do now, catch bad guys. I don't know how you know where to go, how far away you go, and how you chose which crime to stop. I still read in the papers where there was a mugging uptown while you were crosstown breaking up a jewelry store robbery."

"How do I get to a crime scene so fast? Do I sprout wings or something weird like that?"

"Webbing. You swing from webbing, kinda like Tarzan. I don't know where that comes from either. Juan has seen you a couple of times."

"Webbing? Oh great." He lifted his arms and looked at his sides, "Do I grow four more limbs?"

"Not that I know."

At that moment, Juan burst in through the door. "Hi, Momma. Hi, Spider-man, uh I mean Parker. Whatcha all talking about?"

She slid her hand from beneath his before her son noticed. "Parker wants to know more about Spider-man."

JP looked at the young man, "Hey, we can go to the library and look up old Bugle newspapers…" He caught his mother frowning.

"…on second thought, that might not be such a good idea."

"Why not?"

"The Bugle prints mostly lies. The editor has a problem with you for some reason. Don't know why."

"But, there could be some truth to that, wouldn't there?"

"I'll think of something Parker. Don't worry, we'll find out something. Hey, I heard that if you got amnesia from being whacked on the head, another whack fixes it."

"Juan Pedro Eduardo Tomas Noguerras!"

"What? That's what I heard."

"We are NOT going to hit this young man!"

Parker sat there, eyebrows raised, wondering if indeed someone was going to 'whack' him in the head.


	8. Lucky Day

The three sat around a small table eating Chinese take-out.

As Juan stuffed kung-pao chicken into his mouth, Parker sampled the fried dumplings, "I know I can't remember much, but I do recall that this is not Mexican food."

"Just because I'm originally from Mexico, doesn't mean I don't enjoy other ethnic foods. Chinese is cheap, so we can afford this once in a while."

"Yeah, one can eat just so many churros and empanadas." Juan mumbled with his mouth still full.

"JP, your mom said that you've seen Spider-man up close and personal. What can you tell me? Especially this webbing thing."

"What do you want to know?"

"Like where does the web come from?"

"Don't know. You just kinda point and shoot. And voila…webbing. You swing from it, then shoot another, and swing from that one. You do this all over the place. You've picked up some pretty good speed, too."

Parker looked at his wrist and seemed to notice for the first time, the odd scaring he had. He fingered it, rubbed it, studied it. "I just point and it comes out? Like this?" He pointed his hand to the wall.

Nothing happened.

"Well, I guess so. You were never that close for me to see. I didn't see you wearing anything on your wrists, but it doesn't mean that you didn't have something under your costume."

Parker showed him the scar tissue. "What about these?"

"Got me. Haven't a clue."

"What else can you tell me?"

"Hmmmm, oh yeah! You climb walls. You've been dubbed the Wall crawler."

"You're shitting me, right?"

Margarite, who had been listening intently, furrowed her brow, "PARKER! We watch our language in this home."

"Sorry." A soft blush colored his face.

"Getting back to the climbing, there have been several photos of you clinging to the sides of buildings. Why not give it a try?"

"Here?"

"Why not?"

The blush turned crimson, "I, uh, I'm not sure. I'd like to try it on my own if you don't mind."

"Oh go ahead."

Margarite shot her son 'the look' and he quickly backed down, "Parker, you do what you want when you feel comfortable about it. Now you two can do the dishes while I get back to the laundry.

At the sink Juan leaned over and whispered, "Sure you don't want me to try conking you over the head to bring back your memory?"

X x x x xx x x x x x x 

Tears of relief flooded MJ as she cried in Carl's embrace, "Oh thank God."

The doctor nodded to the attendant, who slid the drawer closed. He ushered Mary Jane out of the morgue. "Do you want to go to the other hospital now or take a breather?"

"No, let's get it over with. I would like to see that guy before he ends up in the morgue, too."

The trip to City General lasted an eternity with the heavy New York traffic. She mumbled, "Maybe we should have taken the subway."

The doctor looked at her, "I always take the subway. I just thought you'd like to be treated to a cab once in a while."

"Oh I do, but with this traffic, we could have been at the hospital by now. I just need to know… and … and the wait's getting harder and harder."

He held her hand between his, "Mary Jane, I want to find Peter as much as you do. That young man is the most selfless, truly caring person that I know. I owe him my life. My sister and her husband in Florida owe their lives to him.i Hundreds maybe thousands do as well. I'm going to do everything in my power to find him. He deserves at least that much."

Although he gave the appearance of being stoic and collected, she could feel the tremor of anxiety in his hands. She couldn't help but think that if there were more people like Dr. Jackson in the world, there would be no need for Spider-man.

After they exited the cab, the physician looked up at the hospital name. "City General. I don't know this hospital that well. Been here a couple of times, but I'm not affiliated with it. They don't know me here. They may give us grief trying to protect their patients or just let us through."

As they entered the main entrance, neither could see the dark Buick illegally parked in the back of the doctor's lot.

Carl was patient as he waited for the receptionist to get off her personal cell phone, "Can you tell me what room John Doe is in?"

She gave him a "you're-interfering-with-my-social-life" look then tapped a few keys on the computer. "He's gone."

MJ swooned a little and needed to grab the counter to keep from falling.

"He walked out AMA."

"Do you know when he left?"

"Couple hours ago."

"Can you give us any more information about him?"

"Uh, uh."

"Listen miss, we are searching for a missing person, do you think you can be a little bit more helpful?"

"Try the emergency room. He came in that way. My friend Tricya was on that night. She's there now."

Without showing his displeasure to the receptionist, Carl held Mary Jane's arm and escorted her to the E.R.

X x x x 

Juan was already out the door when Parker got up for breakfast. It was a bleary mid-winter dark and it felt like it was still the middle of the night. He looked up when he heard Margarite enter the kitchen.

"I see you're awake. It's only 5:30, could you not sleep any longer? You really need to stay in bed and rest."

"I'm fine. If I get tired, I can always take a nap."

"Well since you here, let me look at your back." She made him turn the chair around so that he rested his arms on the back as he faced away from her. He shivered in the cold apartment with his shirt off, but he knew it would only be for a few minutes. "You're wounds are healing very fast. They are all scabbed over already, some have even fallen off." She fought off the urge to admire the well sculpted back muscles. While he was younger than her, she felt it was no more than 8 years difference. And a wounded hero was sugar to the feminine emotion.

She took warm mildly soapy water and gently cleansed the area. When she finished with his upper back he looked over at her. "Thanks."

She smiled. "Parker, you should know me by now. I need to check the injuries below your waist, and your pants also need to be laundered. So hand them over. Take this robe and go lay down on Juan's bed. It should make it easier for you when I check you over."

As he lay face down on the bed, he closed his eyes and waited for her to enter. He felt her presence more than heard it. Shortly after she started tending to him, the warm water pooled in the small of his back, running down his hips and in between his legs. It was not an unpleasant feeling at all. However even with her soft touch, he tensed up when she cleansed areas that were generally considered private.

"You are so uptight. Why? Do you think I have not seen a man before? Or is it that you're afraid of me? Why would that be?"

"I'm not afraid of you Margarite. It's just that, oh…I don't know. Everything is so… uncertain."

Using the robe to cover himself, Parker sat up. The curtain of silence was painful. Heavy.

Margarite could not look at Parker when she finally spoke. "I cannot begin to imagine what you are going through. Please, have patience. Remember, whatever happens you can always move forward. Build your life as you want it. You're a good person, Parker. You'll do just fine."

Parker stood and walked over to her. "Thank you."

X x x x 

"OW! That hurts, you moron."

Mike, the male x-ray technician glanced at the pale skinned, Ichabod Crane look-alike, "Please be patient. We're almost done. We want to make sure we get a picture of your wrist from all angles."

"But you don't have to break it in several more places while you do that, do you?"

The tech tried to hurry. The man with the almost colorless eyes, bird like features and a beak-shaped nose was creeping him out. It wasn't just his obnoxious, loud attitude that bothered him, it was more the way he pierced his soul with his gaze. "Stay put for one more minute, while I develop these films. If they look ok, we're done here."

"You'd better be done."

Outside the room, Mike handed the film to the nurse. "Warn the doctor on this guy, he's not all there. A Fruit Loop shy of a full bowl of cereal and with a temper."

"Great, just what I need at the end of my shift."

A portly red headed man took the x-rays from the nurse and entered the exam room. "Mr... Smith? Well, looks like it's your lucky day. There's just a hairline fracture of the trapezium bone. This little guy right here." The doctor pointed to just beyond the thumb. "You don't need surgery or even a full cast. We'll do a partial splint that you can remove to bathe and when it's feeling better. Someone will be right in to make it and show you how to wrap it."

"That's all? You come in here for 10 seconds and that's it? My freakin bill is gonna be out the roof and you spend all of 10 seconds with me?"

"If you'd like Mr. Smith, I can put the cast on you. I will however charge you extra for it."

The doctor turned and left, retreating from the glare he was warned about. Mr. 'Smith' sat in the empty room staring out the open door when he straightened up, "You were right doc, about this being my lucky day." He watched as a beautiful redhead and older black man walked past the opening towards the nurse's station.

i See other fanfic "Through Trials and Tribulations"


	9. Lost

Juan stared up at the ceiling. The clock on his nightstand read 3:18 and he still hadn't fallen asleep. Los Hermanos weighed heavily on his mind and he was trying desperately to find a way out of the hole he was falling into. His thoughts kept drifting back to the man they had found just a couple of days ago in their stairwell. So, why not take advantage of that? If he could produced Spider-man…

X x x x x x x 

The sun had barely lit the tops of the city skyscrapers as Parker watched Juan leave. Propped up on one elbow, shadows dancing from the one flickering nightlight, he wondered why the boy was out the door hours before school started. The slap of slippers on the linoleum brought his attention back. He looked at a tired Margarite as she grabbed the coffee pot.

"Mornin'."

"Oh Parker, I didn't know you were awake already."

"Light sleeper. Say, why does Juan leave so early? Does he have a job before school?"

She shook her head. "He says he helps the teachers get ready for classes. And sometimes he tutors." She paused, eyes downcast. "But I think there is something much more serious bothering him."

Even in the soft light, Parker could see the shimmer of a tear trickle down her cheek. He got up off his makeshift bed and went over to her. He hesitated. But seeing that she made no move away from him, he put his hand on her shoulders. "Do you have any idea what the problem is?'

She nodded.

He waited for her answer but received nothing more.

He realized then, she didn't respond because she was fighting back tears. She finally blurted out, "Gangs," and turned into him, burying her face in his shoulder. He place one hand tentatively behind her head, the other on her back and held her. He didn't see this coming. She held up such a façade. But thinking back, he wondered if her weariness was more of anxiety than overwork.

He relaxed into his hug and held her until he could feel her soft sobs stopping. "Margarite, go back to bed. I've seen you do enough laundry, I know I can do it."

She pulled away from the young man. Her eyes wide with shock. She couldn't fathom having him do her work. That was so wrong in her eyes. She pushed him to arms length. "Oh NO, Parker. I can't let you do that. It's…" She just shook her head. "No!"

He watched her go into her bedroom and closed the door. "Now what did I do? I hope I didn't offend her." He grabbed the empty coffee pot and proceeded to make coffee.

Margarite exited her bedroom, dressed, just as the pot gurgled the last drop of the water into the coffee grounds.

Parker grabbed her cup, filled it half full of coffee, half full of milk with half of the sweetener in the yellow packet. He couldn't figure out why women liked any of the crap sold in colorful mini-envelopes, whether yellow, blue or pink. They all tasted terrible as far as he was concerned. He topped the inviting beverage off with a pinch of cinnamon.

"You remembered!"

"Well without any old memories filling up my brain, all I have are new ones. It's my turn to repay you for your kindness. Now sit!"

She did as she was told.

He sat across the table from her, holding his own hot cup. "So tell me about the gangs."

X x x x xx xx x 

"Hurry up already, will ya. I've got things to do."

"Well if you watch how I wrap this, then you can do it on your own, later. Now pay attention, Mr. Smith."

Within minutes the wrist was wrapped and the patient was discharged. Grabbing his coat from the chair, he bolted out the door, scanning the E.R. for flowing bright red hair.

"There you are my pretty." He stood straight and strutted towards her, then stopped short when he saw the black man next to her. "Him!" Not wanting to draw attention to himself here, he walked past the desk and out the emergency room doors. He did a quick check of the area and found a few benches and picnic table used by employees at lunchtime. Picking the bench furthest away, he brushed the snow away and sat. Unblinking, his eyes were glued to the entrance to the E.R. He waited.

X x x x x x x x

Reaching for the spare coat Margarite gave him, Parker left the apartment. He was disturbed by the information that Juan presented to him earlier regarding Spider-man's abilities and needed fresh air. And to be by himself. He had the urge to go sit on top of the highest building, but didn't have a clue how to get up there, so he just walked the streets, collar up against the biting cold, hands stuffed into his pockets.

'_He said that I could climb walls.'_ Parker looked at his wrists. _'He also said I could shoot webbing. Ha!' _

He found himself sitting on the same bench in front of the corner grocer. It was the only thing in this city he recognized aside from the inside of Margarite's apartment. He looked at the sky, the sun reflecting off the buildings. He felt drawn upward. Wanting to soar. Was he a pilot?

The overpacked streets were teeming with people and cars. The unsubstantiated stares he kept feeling motivated him to started walking.

With his head down and shoulders hunched against the wind, he studied his footsteps. The oversize sneakers were well worn. They had a history to them. They were a memory to someone. He wondered about his own shoes. Were they nice looking, stiff office shoes? Comfortable do-a-lot-of-walking shoes? Would they reflect his job? His hobbies?

In the distance he heard a clock chime 3. Another day spinning through the hours. _'Wow, I now have two days worth of memory and history.'_ He frowned sourly.

A blast from a car horn broke his trance. Startled he found himself lost. _'Shit. I didn't even take notice of what street she lived on.'_ He looked up and around at all the tall buildings, fear welling up. "Dammit!"

His curse was ignored by all those around him as they were used to the everyday harsh language of the city. Once again he felt himself drawn upward, towards the rooftops. _'Juan said I could climb walls. I wonder?'_ He ducked into an alley hoping that no one would see him making as ass of himself.

Facing the wall, he looked up, looked out towards the street, then up again, "What? Am I nuts? Suppose someone sees me?" He backed up and leaned against the other building, just staring. _'But what if Juan's right? Suppose I can climb walls? Maybe, while I'm hanging off the side, my memory will come flooding back. I'll remember who I am. I'll remember where I live, what job I have. Family. And what the hell a Spider-man is. But then again, I could just fall and whack my head.'_ Parker just shook his head. _'Well I do seem to have a morbid sense of humor.'_ He inched back to the wall and placed his hands on it. _'Now what do I do?'_

He placed a sneaker in a crease created by the bricks and hoisted himself up. He hung there for a split second before crashing back, falling into nearby garbage bags. "What the hell was I thinking? I can't climb walls. Juan's got it wrong. I'm not a Spider-man. They must have mistaken me for someone else. I mean, they just found me on their front door. So, I was wearing some funky looking blue and red tights. There's a good reason for that. I'm probably a cross dresser. Better than saying I'm a Spider-man." Parker continued to bicker with himself for another full minute before he realized that he could be heard outside of the alley. He glanced towards the street and was relieved that no one was looking at the nutcase losing an argument with himself.

Standing up, he sighed, popped his collar back up and left the alley. He headed back in the direction he thought he came from, hoping to recognize something.

X x x x x x x 

"Hi Doctor, I'm Tricya. How can I help you?"

"A day and a half, two days ago, you handled a John Doe that came through the E.R. Can you describe him to me?"

The nurse gave Dr. Jackson a skeptical look. "Can I ask why?"

"A patient of mine has gone AWOL and I'm checking all John Does in the city. Since this fellow has checked out already I just need a physical description."

"He was a white boy, in his mid 20's, dark hair…"

"Not sandy colored?"

"Nope."

MJ held her enthusiasm in check; she could feel her heartbeat pick up, flutter. But she kept quiet as the nurse continued to describe her man.

"Like I was saying, dark hair, blue eyes. I have to admit, his eyes were gorgeous. For a white kid…"

MJ's heart skipped a beat.

"…a hair under 6', maybe 5'10" or so. Slightly obese…"

Carl raised his eyebrows. "Obese?"

"Yes. Such a shame. At that age it really is easy to lose the weight. Wait until he hits 50. Then cutting out one or two beers won't work anymore. Anyway…"

"Thank you, nurse. Unfortunately this isn't my patient."

Mary Jane bit her lip to keep the thought from flowing out her mouth. _'SHIT!'_

Carl led the young woman back the way they came in. "For a moment there, I really thought we found him."

"Yeah. But no way can anyone mistake Peter for being fat." Subconsciously she licked her lips at the thought of him undressed. "Nope. No way."

"So, did you say you don't mind subways? It'll be a brisk walk to the metro entrance."

"I'm all for walking right now. I need to burn some excess energy. I thought we were so close…" her sentence just trailed away as they headed for the subway stairs.

X x x x x x x 

"Where's Parker?"

"I don't know." Juan looked around at his mother's question. "Hasn't he come back yet?"

She shook her head. "He looked like he just needed to go out for a walk, but that was hours ago. Do you think he remembered who was and decided to go home? Oh won't that be wonderful?" She clasped her hands together.

"But he would at least have stopped by to say 'good-bye'."

"Maybe it had something to do with keeping his secret. Even though we do know what he looks like. Maybe he was afraid something would slip out while he talked to us and he didn't want to chance it. Who knows?"

"Well I hope he comes back to let us know. He can come in costume, that's ok. But let us know." Juan's face wrinkled with distain at the thought. "Suppose he still doesn't remember?"

"Well what else could it be? Why else would he leave?"

"Well, maybe he thought he was being a burden and…oh, I don't know. Maybe he's lost?"

Now Margarite's face soured with worry.

X x x x x x x x 

Parker walked for what seemed hours. In fact, when he looked up and noticed how low the sun was in the sky, he realized he had. Amnesia's bad enough all by itself, but now he was lost in a huge city without being able to remember the one small place he had grown comfortable with. All the buildings looked large, looming and the same as when he looked up 15 minutes ago. His eyes fell on the words "New York Public Library" and his face brightened. Juan said something about Spider-man always being in the news. He could go inside and go through all the old newspaper accounts. Maybe something will ring a bell. If nothing else, he could warm up.

The librarian looked up at the disheveled young man. "We have papers that are loose from the past week. We put them in binders when they're older, then onto film." You can go through the microfiche downstairs if you want to look up stuff older than 6 months.

"Thanks." Parker headed first to the stack of current papers. It didn't take him long to see the headlines, "SPIDER-MAN ABANDONS CITY IN COWARDLY RETREAT FROM TROUBLES".


	10. Baby it's cold outside

"Where the hell are they? They shoulda been out here by now?" Forgetting that his left wrist was in a cast, the stalker looked at his watch. "Oh hell I left it inside." A smile crossed his face. "This'll be an excuse for me to go back in and see what's keeping her."

He strolled inside and walked up to the reception nurse, showed his left arm and asked if she had seen his watch. She shook her head and continued writing up a patient report. "By the way, wasn't that the famous actress Mary Jane Watson in here earlier with an older black man?"

"I haven't a clue who Mary Jane Watson is, but I remember the couple."

"Did they leave?"

The nurse looked up annoyed, "Yeah, about an hour ago. Now if you're still looking for your watch, call our lost and found. If they have it, you can find it there. Now if you don't mind…"

His face glowed bright red as he stormed out the hospital door, _'An hour ago! Where the hell did they go? I've been watching the door the whole time.'_ He pounded the hood of his car. "The front door, they goddam went out the front door!"

X x x x x

Parker sat with his head in his hands, fingers laced through his hair and newspapers scattered across the entire table top in front of him. He felt dejected, rejected, betrayed, angry, unsure and alone. All at once. So far, from what he's read in the Bugle, Spider-man was a thief, a menace and a killer. People had actually murdered in his namei. It was in print that he joined every bad guy and gang in the city. He was accomplices to supervillains. Even though they always disappeared Spider-man kept popping up like a bad penny. Why would Juan and Margarite be so thrilled at having such a demonic criminal as a guest? He was actually praying that they were wrong about his identity. He didn't want any part of that freak. It had to be a misunderstanding, maybe he was on his way to a costume party. Or maybe the pictures are fake and they needed a model to pose for them and he's the model. Heck, he'd even settle for being a transvestite. Whatever the bizarre excuse as to why he was wearing red and blue spandex, it had to be better than being the real Spider-man.

"**THE LIBRARY IS CLOSING IN 15 MINUTES"**

Parker tilted his head without moving it from his hands. The wall clock showed 9:45. He let out a huge sigh. Depression sat in the pit of his stomach like a bad undercooked churo. Where could he go? He studied the stacks and wondered if he could hide amongst all those thousands of books. Just to have a safe warm place to sleep. But that idea popped like a balloon when a security guard came into the room to usher him out.

Once again outside, he looked skyward. What he thought were stars at first were snowflakes. Feeling deflated, he shrugged his collar as high as he could get it and trudged on.

X x x x x xx x x 

Dr. Jackson headed for the subway after escorting Mary Jane to the steps of her apartment. His mind was overwhelmed with thoughts of where and how to find Peter, when he heard "Hey sugardaddy" directly behind him and turned. Pain flashed across his head allowing inky blackness to pour in, consuming his consciousness.

X x x x x 

Parker's stomach growled menacingly. Although famished, he was without a cent and without any idea where any of his own money was. He wasn't even sure if he had money. No money, no food. His choices were to see if there was a soup kitchen around anywhere or find something to steal. But both choices were poor at this time of night. He wasn't even sure he had it in him to steal.

He stood outside an all night grocery._'If I steal, I'll get arrested, thrown in a cell where it's warm, a cot with a blanket to sleep on, food. Might not be such a bad idea.'_

"If I find a place to hunker down for the night, maybe sleep will keep my mind off hunger." He turned from the store and plodded on.

He came to an alley with a refrigerator box at the end. Lots of newspapers were scattered about. That box looked uncharacteristically inviting and he hurried over. He felt dismayed to see another man inside. He 'knocked' on the cardboard to get the attention of the vagrant.

"WHAT!"

"I have a proposition for you." Parker tried his best to make this sound like a good deal. "All you have for warmth is this box and some newspapers. Add another body in there and it'll be much toastier. It's just for tonight. Just to sleep. I don't want anything else from you."

The scruffy man looked up at a shivering youth. "I'm homeless, not heartless. I've got no money and your clothes are in better shape than mine. So if you leave me be, you can join me. Just don't pull any funny stuff."

"Thanks." Feeling more dejected than he could ever remember, he crawled into the oversize cardboard box and fell into a dreamless sleep.

X x x x x x x 

MJ had just turned off her lights for bed when there was a knock at her door. _'Who the hell would be visiting at 2 AM?'_ She got up and wrapped her ragged terry robe around her. _'Probably some drunk who's at the wrong apartment.'_ Her slippers scuffed softly on the wood floor as she headed towards the door. She didn't turn on the lights not wanting to alert whoever was there. She stretched forward to peek through the eyehole to see who was so rude as to disturb someone in the middle of the night.

She struggled to swallow the lump in her throat. "Yes?"

"Police, Miss Watson."

She continued the conversation through the closed door. "What can I do for you in the middle of the night, Officers?"

"Do you know a Dr. Carl Jackson?"

Her eyes flew wide and she unlocked and unbolted the several locks. She flung open the door. "I do, come in, Officers."

As the two uniformed policemen entered, she tried to hide her panic. "Is something wrong?"

"Dr. Jackson was attacked several hours ago. He's in serious condition at the hospital. We traced his steps back to you. When did you last see him?"

MJ stood with her mouth agape then stole a glimpse at her clock. While she knew what time she left him her brain struggled to recall it. "Um….around 9:00. No, it was 9:20. I had just missed the weather on TV. How bad he is? Where did you find him? Is he going to make it?

The officers were dry. Professional. "Where was this?"

"Huh? Oh, the front door. He waited until I was inside, I didn't see which direction he went. But since he was going home I guess he headed towards the subway."

"Did you see anyone suspicious?"

She shook her head. "No. It was pretty quiet. Actually I was surprised at how quiet the streets were, since it was only about 9. How is he?"

"We don't know. You'll have to contact the hospital for more detailed information. If you think of anything else, would you please give this detective a call? He's assigned to the case." One of the officers handed her a business card.

She stared at it as the officers left, barely hearing them tell her "Don't forget to lock up."

Mary Jane sank to the floor. The attack on her dear friend and her missing fiancé overwhelmed her emotions; she broke down and sobbed.

"Oh GOD! Not Carl."

X x x x x x x x 

Margarite wrung her hands. "Juan, now I'm really worried. It's dinner time and Parker's still not back. I think something's happened to him."

Juan exited his bedroom, already bundled up against the cold, with a flashlight, some snacks and water. "Don't worry, Momma, I'm going out looking for him."

He slammed the door shut against the cold and climbed the steep stairs up to the streets. He did not have a clue where to start. He turned left.

The wind stung his cheeks, but he didn't want to bury his face against the cold. He scrutinized ever person he saw on the street, looking for the familiar castoff coat Parker was wearing. He glanced down every alley and studied the ground for any hint that he had passed this way.

A clock chimed. Juan Pedro grimaced when he checked the library clock overhead which read 9:30. He'd been walking around for hours now without any evidence that there ever was a man named Parker. He looked up at the cloudy sky, blinking against the starting snowfall and wondered if Parker tried webslinging. _'What if he's hurt up on some roof somewhere?'_

Having no clue where else to walk or look, JP headed back home. Hopefully Parker will be there.

i See other fanfic "We All Can't Keep Secrets"


	11. Frozen Stiff

Mary Jane sat in the sterile metal chair holding the hand of her dear friend. She looked upon his bruised face, a tear trickling down her own. "I came as soon as they opened the hospital doors to visitors. What happened Carl? Who did this to you?"

She waited for the reply that didn't come.

"I wish you would wake up and tell me who did this. The cops don't have a clue. I had to stop by my way here to sign a witness statement even though I told them I wasn't a witness to anything. But I had to give them the reason why we were together. I told him my fiancé was missing and we were out looking for him. Would you believe he had the balls to ask why wasn't he reported? I said I knew that we can't report missing people for 48 hrs after they've gone missing. Peter's just been gone a few hours. Ok, so I lied a little about that. But, I can't give them any excuse to dig into Peter's background. Who knows what they would come up with, huh? But look at the grief they give people who know that their missing person is indeed truly missing after just a few hours and the cops won't do anything about it."

"Miss Watson, we don't have enough men to look for everyone who decided to go for a long walk one day. That's how that rule came to be in effect."

Mary Jane snapped around and looked at the bulldog of a man standing at the foot of Carl's bed. "Detective Carter, I didn't hear you come in."

"I was in the neighborhood. Hoped the good doctor would be awake. How long have you been here?"

"About an hour. He hasn't stirred since I've been here."

"Too bad. The longer it takes to get his statement the less chance we have of catching the guy."

The flat faced detective studied the patient for a few minutes. When he had ascertained that Carl was indeed still unconscious he looked at the actress, "I want to talk to you s'more about your missing boyfriend. When did you see him last?"

"Why the sudden interest, do you think he did this?"

"No. But they may be connected."

She swallowed the bile that fear pushed up into her throat, "Oh, no, there's no way they are connected. Peter disappeared before Dr. Jackson knew about it. No one would connect my fiancé and Dr Jackson here."

"Miss Watson, why don't you let us make that determination? When did Peter…? What's his last name?"

"Parker. Peter Parker."

"When did Parker disappear?"

Mary Jane tried to stall for time by looking at the gentleman in the bed. The cops would get suspicious if her story doesn't fit with the version she gave earlier. But she was too tired and stressed to come up with anything other than the truth. Or at least the half truth that came automatically. "He went to take pictures of the freighter that exploded. He's a photographer for the Bugle."

"Really? Miss Watson, that was several days ago. I thought you said that he was missing only a few hours? Now which is it?"

"Several days? Has it been that long already? I've lost track of time."

"You do know that under special circumstances we can start looking for people immediately when there's an obvious reason for a disappearance. Like a major catastrophe. A freighter explosion for example."

"No. I didn't know that. Look Detective. I'm really tired, and I just want to wait for Carl to wake up."

"You're hiding something. I don't know what, but you are hiding something. And we will get to the bottom of it. Are you sure there isn't anything about the disappearance of your boyfriend you want to tell me? Don't you want the police to help find him? After all he has been missing for the required amount of time."

"I'll come in and file a missing person's report once I know that Dr. Jackson's okay. Would that satisfy you?"

"That all depends, Miss Watson. That all depends."

She watched the detective exit. "Carl, I've got to leave right now. I want to head over to Peter's and get any of, you know, his _other_ things. Just in case the cops go over there. I'll be back as soon as I can."

X x x x x x x 

Parker awoke stiff and cold. He figured it was close to 9:00 AM by how bright it was, even though the sun hadn't reached him yet. He had partially squirmed out of his 'bedroom' when he sensed something different. Something wrong. He looked at his box partner only to realize he was frozen solid.

"EEUUUUUWWWWWW!"

Parker jumped up with such force that he ripped the edge of the box. He back-peddled away from the dead man, wiping his hands on his coat repeatedly. "EW, EW, EW, EW, EW!"

A shudder shot up his spine as he stood at the mouth of the alley wondering what to do now. Should he report it? Or let someone else find the body? He leaned against the building, his face straining towards the sun, eyes closed. Composing himself, he stuffed his hands into his pockets, toed the light powder that had coated the city overnight with his sneaker and contemplated his immediate future.

A beautiful redhead across the street caught his attention. She had a purpose to her stride and he wondered if she were heading to her boyfriend or her husband.

He kicked the dusting of snow and walked off. A half of block down he heard a scream and turned to see the beautiful woman being accosted by a tall thin man in a dark trenchcoat. Without understanding how his body just took charge, he found himself running towards the fighting couple. That redhead was feisty! Until the guy spun her around pinning her against the wall.

Parker picked up an empty bottle, screamed "HEY!" and chucked it at him.

X x x x x x x 

Mary Jane rushed towards Peter's apartment hoping the police hadn't started to look for him yet. If nothing else, she needed to grab his extra costume. Completely concentrating on her task at hand, she totally missed seeing a dark sedan pull up and park just ahead of her. As she reached for the railing to take the stairs up to Pete's place a hand grabbed her arm and spun her around.

"Miss Watson. You keep avoiding me. Why?"

She stared into almost colorless eyes. In some people they might have been beautiful but on his face they were cold, callous and dangerous.

"Let go of me you CREEP!" She screamed as she kicked him in the shin.

"Ow!" He grabbed both her shoulders and held her at arm's length. "Listen you little bitch. Can't you see that I'm the one for you? Not that N*** or that geek."

MJ assaulted his legs with more kicks until he spun her around and pinned her against the wall. All she could think about was where was Spider-man?

She heard a "HEY!" then a bottle break near her, and when the psycho softened his grip she took advantage of it and gouged his instep with her heal. He released her and she spun around, belted him in the head with her purse, delivered a swift kick to his crotch and took off running.

Bent over, cupping his groin, Ice Eyes looked at Parker. "You!" and took off after him. For someone who looked so thin and sickly and just got kicked in the jewels, he sure could motor.

"OH CRAP!" Parker did a hop, spun around and bolted. He didn't expect to be chased by the attacker. Actually, he thought that once he yelled and threw something the guy would run away. Then he could go over and console the fair maiden in distress.

MJ realized she wasn't being chased and turned around. Although a block away, she focused on her rescuer. She took a step in his direction. "Pete?"

X x x x x x 

MJ's head was nodding up and down as sleep was trying to overtake her in her chair. She jerked upright when she heard, "Mary Jane?"

"Carl! You're awake."

"What time is it? What happened?"

"It's almost dinner time. You were mugged last night after you dropped me off. Do you remember anything?"

"Hmmmm." His eyes slid closed.

"Carl, please don't leave me. Stay awake for a few more minutes. Did you see who did this too you?"

He looked at her with tired eyes. "Not much. He was a white dude….probably some racial thing."

"The cops are trying to connect Peter's disappearance with this. I'm afraid they are going to start digging and find too many unanswered questions. Is there anything else about him you remember?"

"He was some pencil-necked clown. But I do remember his eyes were almost clear. Spooky."

Mary Jane sat bolt upright. "Did you say clear? Oh my God! That's the creepy fan that's been following me for the past several days. He accosted me this morning outside of Peter's apartment."

Carl squeezed her hand. "Attacked? You were attacked? Are you okay?"

"Badly shaken, but not hurt.

"…and Carl, I think it was Peter who saved me."

For the first time since his attack, Carl looked fully alert. "Peter?"

She nodded. "I'm not sure. I only heard one word from him and just saw him running away. But, I know that run. It's him. It's got to be him."

"But why would he run from you?"

"That creep turned to chase him. Maybe he was leading him away from me."

Carl closed his eyes to rest for a moment then looked at Mary Jane. "That doesn't explain why he didn't come back. Or why he hasn't called. Or why there have been no Spidey-sightings since the explosion. Why is he in hiding?"

MJ's voice dropped. "I don't know. Maybe because I wanted to see him. Nothing more."


	12. Bait

Juan Pedro grabbed a cold bagel, a small orange juice, kissed his mother on the cheek and headed out the apartment. "Momma, I promise, I'll find Parker."

X x x x x x x x x 

Parker struggled to gain distance from the attacker. But between the snow and too large sneakers, he couldn't outrun the bird man. And he couldn't remember the city well enough to lose the predator.

Lungs burning and heart pounding Parker gambled and ran into the middle of the road, dodging cars, buses and bike messengers. When he made it across the four lanes he caught a glimpse of the man stuck in the traffic. Still running, Parker grabbed a pole and slingshot around the corner. He sprinted down the first alley he saw and slid behind a dumpster.

Opening his mouth wide, he fought to catch his breath in the cold dry air. Parker rested his head against the building. Between his barely healed injuries and not eating in 24 hours he was exhausted.

X x x x x x x 

Mary Jane entered the large office area. _'Geesh, this place looks like some cheesy Hollywood police station up here.'_ Some desks were back to back; she guessed so that partners could work with each other. Single desks lined the walls. She scanned the area wondering where Det. Carter sat when she noticed hanging off the side of each desk the occupant's name. It wasn't long before she spotted the empty area which was his.

She walked as inconspicuously as possible but the whistles still pierced the air. Trying not to draw anymore attention, she opted to look out the window while she waited for the cop.

"Thanks for coming in Miss Watson."

She spun around to see the detective motion her to a seat.

"I've sent someone over to get Dr. Jackson's official statement. So what can you tell me about your assault this morning?"

Mary Jane gave the detective the details sans one. That she thought it was Peter who intervened.

"So, Miss Watson, you're saying that this cadaver-wannabe with almost invisible eyes is the guy that attacked both you and your friend?"

She nodded.

"And where did you say you knew him from?"

"I DON'T know him. I assumed he was just an overzealous fan. I don't know who he is, but he knows my name and I think he knows where I live. He always seems to find me."

"Ok, don't panic. We'll have a patrol car canvas your neighborhood more often. We'll also put someone on at the hospital for you friend. In fact, why don't you go home, have a good night's sleep and head back to the hospital first thing? Maybe you'll lead this guy right to us."

"You want me to be bait? For this lunatic?"

"It's up to you Miss Watson. Sometimes we catch them very quickly this way before they realize we're on to them."

"Well what about someone guarding my place until he's caught?"

The cop glared at her over his reading glasses, "We haven't the manpower to be bodyguards 24/7, but I can put someone there a few hours at a time." He studied the actress a little closer, "Say, you're the young lady that Spider-man's saved a couple of times. Why don't you contact him? I'm sure he'll love to watch over you."

She just wanted to scream, "You moron, haven't you noticed he hasn't been around?" But instead set her jaw and kept quiet.

X x x x x x 

Juan wandered around the city more organized than he did the previous day. He circled the block and increased the circumference so that he would cover everything. He looked down alleys, went into stores, eateries, anywhere he thought Parker might go to either get warm, eat or hide.

X x x x x x xx 

Parker stayed squirreled behind the dumpster for several hours. Not so much because he thought that blue eyed creep would still be waiting for him, but because he had nowhere to go. A hot air vent provided some warmth. More than he had last night. And he despised himself for admitting it but the restaurant he shared the wall with threw out food. Of which he already had a light meal.

After resting an hour, Parker shuffled up onto his feet keeping this alley in mind for tonight since it had a heat source. And no dead body. He kicked the rubbish away and exited from behind the dumpster.

Juan Pedro glanced down the alley and was just past it when he heard someone at the other end. He reversed back a step and peered down it.

"Wow! Hey Parker!"

Parker's face lit up. "JP! Oh boy! Am I glad to see you!"

The two embraced in a bear hug. "Momma has been so worried about you. **I've** been worried about you. Where were you? Why didn't you come home? Nevermind, tell us later after you get some food, water and fresh clothes. C'mon let's get home."

X x x x x x x 

"PARKER!" Margarite flung her arms wide. A tear trickling down her cheek. "Oh my dear Parker, you had me worried sick." She wrapped her arms around him, softly sobbing. "Where were you?"

"I went out to clear my mind and simply got lost." The blush to his cheek showed his embarrassment.

"Well tomorrow we have a feast to celebrate Parker's safe return. I've already prepared supper for tonight, so Juan Pedro, would you go shopping tomorrow?"

A huge smile creased his face. "Sure!"

X x x x x xxx x 

Mary Jane reached into her purse halfway down her apartment front steps. She pulled out her sunglasses for the bright, almost blinding day. A quick scan of the street did not reveal the dark sedan that she remembered seeing the fanatic drive. Since she hadn't paid attention to the car in previous encounters, she didn't have a license plate to give the police. The air was crisp; plumes of breath could be seen coming from her mouth as she breathed. She shrugged her coat a little tighter and marched for the subway. Since she didn't see anyone, she opted to go to the entrance that was further away, hoping to draw this lunatic out. Her heart pounded in her chest and her step quickened.

X x x x x

"C'mon Parker, get up. We've got things to do today. It's a beautiful Saturday and there's someplace we need to go."

"Where're we going JP?"

"'You'll see. Let's grab a bite to eat then head out."

Parker looked over the table at Margarite. He swore he saw a hint of a glint in her eye. "Do you know where JP's taking me?"

"I don't know a thing, except all this laundry I need to do."

"Listen, I can stay and help, it's the least I can do for all of the trouble you've gone through for me. Look at the food alone I've eaten."

"Juan still eats more than you. I swear, his legs are just big empty sacks. Besides, I'm curious to what that boy is up to. You go with him."

As they left, JP looked up at the brilliant sky. "Now this is an invigorating day. I love days like this."

"So, you gonna tell me where we're going yet?"

"Nope. But we need to get on the elevated train to get there. It's a couple of blocks walk. You up for it?"

"Yup. I have to admit…..I heal pretty fast. But aren't we supposed to be food shopping?"

X x x x x x x x 

When MJ got onto the subway, she was disappointed that she wasn't followed. She really wanted this guy to show himself again so that the police could catch him. She plopped in one of the seats and closed her eyes letting her mind wander back to when she saw Peter. Maybe it wasn't him, after all she didn't get that good of look.

She dragged herself into the hospital, the lack of sleep wearing on her. When Mary Jane entered Dr. Jackson's room he was gone. The empty bed startled her out of her sleep deprived stupor. "Where's the patient?"

The nurse, who was changing his bed, looked at the disheveled red head. "You just missed him. He just left for a battery of tests. He's going to be a while, I'm afraid."

The actress dropped like a sack of potatoes into the closest chair. The all too fresh memory of the empty beds for both John Doe's still fresh in her mind.

"You okay, dear?"

MJ looked at the nurse. "I'm fine; it's just that, I thought that, well…"

"I understand. You can stay and rest and wait for him if you'd like."

"Thanks. I think I will. On second thought, if he comes back, will you tell him I was here. I need to run an errand."

The nurse smiled and nodded.

As she ran out the hospital MJ thought, _'Flowers will be the easy part, but what else can I give him. I know he likes the white tea that he can pick up in Chinatown, but I wonder if there's someplace closer.'_ She headed towards the subway with a destination in mind.


	13. I'm Peter

"You're still not gonna tell me where you're taking me?"

"Nope."

"But we're almost at the last station."

"That's where we're getting off, but we got some walking still ahead of us."

"Why all the mystery?"

Juan's eyes showed a glint, but Parker couldn't quite figure out how to read it. The elevated train came to a stop at the end of the line, a huge, busy station. JP led Parker down the stairs and they started walking under the tracks in the direction the train would have continued if there were additional stops. "Are you up for a 10 block walk?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good actually."

Parker was looking about as they walked the line. He was amazed at the size of the city and the buildings. Looking up he started to notice an odd pattern. On both sides of the track, at train level, there seemed to be patchwork repairs done to many of the buildings. "What's with the repair jobs up there?"

A sly smile came to Juan's face. "Spider-man did that."

"Really? Destructive, isn't he? So are we there yet?"

"Almost."

"C'mon, JP, the suspense is killing me."

"One more block."

"But there's nothing there. It's an empty lot." Parker looked up. "It's also the end of the tracks."

"Ok, we're here."

"Here, where?"

Juan pointed to a large rock on the edge of the empty lot. A small plaque was attached to the flat side. "See that?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Momma and I sat up after you went to sleep last night discussing what to do after you told us what you found at the library. The Bugle is a crap paper. And this is proof.

"About a year and a half ago, up there, some nut, I forget his name, damaged the train and it became a runaway heading straight for this empty yard. Spider-man nearly killed himself trying to save it. He got it stopped just as the first car ran half way off the track. Saved everyone on board. It was rush hour. If he didn't stop that train, it was estimated 550 people probably would have died. This plaque was donated by a large chunk of those people. Go ahead and read it."

Parker leaned in, "IN GRATITUDE, THIS SMALL BUT PERMANENT MARKER SITS AS A REMINDER OF ALL THE LIVES SAVED FROM THE 3:15 EXPRESS ON 06/04/2004

SPIDER-MAN, THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US."

Juan's face broke into a huge grin at the speechless man. "See, whadya tell you? Spider-man is loved. You can't take the Bugle's stories as is. There's a lot they don't tell. All that patchwork back there was where you had webbing and the building mortar gave out. Everyone was lucky most of the buildings held up. "

He looked at Parker, "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"I don't know what to say. Spider-man saved all those people?"

"YOU saved all those people."

"JP, how can you be so certain I'm this guy? I can't climb walls or shoot webbing."

"Why else would you be wearing an obnoxious red and blue spandex outfit?" Juan smiled broadly at throwing Parker's words back at him. "Besides, look how fast you healed. No one else could heal that fast. You're him, whether you like it or not. As for the climbing thing? It'll come back to you. C'mon, let's go. We have shopping to do."

X x x x x

MJ wasn't paying attention; her mind was concentrating on finding something nice to give to Carl. Something he would appreciate in the hospital. She figured she could bring a bouquet of flowers just to brighten the room on her way back. But she had a small specialty store in mind for the white tea. They may have other goodies too that she could pick up for him.

She didn't notice the beak-nosed ice-blue eyed stranger get on the subway two cars back.

X x x x x x x

Juan and Parker entered the corner grocery. "So what are you supposed to pick up?"

Juan pulled out a piece of white tattered paper and carefully tore it in half. "Momma gave me a list. Here, you take half, we'll get done twice as fast."

Each carrying full white plastic bags in either hand, they exited the store.

"Well, if it ain't JP."

Juan dropped his bags and turned to face Emilio, a lieutenant for Los Hermanos, along with five of his henchmen.

"You know we don't like to be rejected. Now we have to set an example with you." He motioned to his buddies to escort the teen.

Parker, already warned about this gang, swung the bag with the heavy cans inside at the closest gang member to him. There was a solid thunk as the bag connected sending the banger to the ground. Parker swung around ready with his second bag but was grabbed by the shoulders by the biggest member and bashed against the wall, then thrown on the ground. His head slammed the sidewalk and the world snapped black.

X x x x x x x

"Hey, young man, you okay?" The grocer lightly tapped Parker on the cheek. "You need to get to the hospital?

Parker flailed the air as he started his climb from the murky depths. He bolted upright. "Where's JP?"

"Are you talking about the other feller with you? Them gangbangers took him."

"Where?"

The older gentleman scratched his chin stubble. "Theys likely took him where they like to hang out by the warehouses near the docks. I won't…"

He was unable to finish his sentence as Peter shot up and sprinted towards the docks. Subconsciously he ran into an alley, pointed his arm up and soared skyward on a gossamer thread.

Peter knew he was going up against a large number of dangerous thugs. Nothing to be afraid of but he needed his costume. Luckily his apartment was on the way. He was in and changed before a cop car could speed a city block.

Spider-man flew through the city. The cool air coursing through his costume reminded him why he lived.

He lit atop one of the warehouses and searched for the young man that had saved his life.

X x x x x x x x

Juan Pedro's heart was exploding through his chest. He wiped the sweat out of his eyes as he tried to back into the wall behind him. He tried his best to think his way out. "C'mon guys, I'm a nobody. There's no reason to do this."

The leader of Los Hermanos grimaced a smile at the teen. The silver from all his facial piercings glinted in the sun. He took a step towards the petrified youth.

SPLAT!

All eyes dropped to the ground, inches in front of the gangster's foot. "What the hell…?" He toed the sticky wad with his boot.

"The next one knocks you out!"

All faces shot to the wall above Juan.

"JP…is a friend of mine." Spider-man hung on the wall, both hands cocked and ready to shoot. "Now, who'd like to be first?"

Half of the gang bolted.

Having already lost several members to the webhead in previous encounters, the head of Los Hermanos gave JP a friendly slap on the arm. "We were only going to have a heart to heart talk with him, dude. We weren't actually going to hurt him."

"Yeah, right. And you have a bridge in Brooklyn that you wanna sell me for $10, right? You stay clear of him as if he's got a contagious disease. Got it?"

No one said anything.

Spider-man sent a small soft wad of webbing at the ringleader's forehead. It stuck.

"Maybe you didn't hear me. You are to leave my friend alone. Or you're not going to like what I'm going to do to you. Do you need me to translate that into Spanish for you?"

Wiping the webbing off his forehead, the leader just made a motion with his hands and the gang turned and fled.

Juan looked up. "YOU'RE BACK! Hey man, your timing couldn't have been much better. When did it, how did it happen?"

Spider-man somersaulted down. "When the big guy slammed me to the ground. I hit my head. You were right. That's all I needed. I good whack." Juan couldn't see the ear to ear smile under the mask.

Spider-man could feel the terror still escaping from Juan's body as he bearhugged his rescuer.

"JP, you're safe now. I doubt those thugs will come anywhere near you now.

C'mon, let's get you home. How about by air?"

X x x x x x

A soft whisper of air was the only sound as Spider-man and JP landed outside the apartment. "Hey. Momma!" Juan Pedro jumped down the steps grabbing the doorknob in one motion bursting in.

"Hey. Momma!"

Startled, Margarite dropped the shirt she was pressing.

"What? What is it Juan?" She started towards the door then stopped dead in her tracks.

A blue and red clad figure popped in behind the young man. He flung his arms wide. "Margarite!" and swallowed her in his embrace.

She stepped back. "Parker, is that you under there?"

Peter slipped his mask off showing a face splitting grin. "Actually Margarite, Parker's my last name. I'm Peter."

She put her hands up caressing his face. "See, I told you not to worry." She turned him around. "You had another costume?"

He nodded. "Too many thugs to see my face, once I remembered. Luckily my place was on the way."

She tilted her head, confused.

JP nudged Peter and looked to his mother. "Sit down, it's a long story."

Peter pulled his mask back on. "I'd like to stay but there are a lot of people worried sick about me. Gotta run. Margarite, JP, I'll be back later. But I really need to get going."

Spider-man disappeared out the door, the only sound after that was a 'thwip'.

X x x x x x

Mary Jane exited the subway caught up in the flow of riders moving upstairs. The day was brisk, so she increased her pace for the 4 block march to the hospital. Her head hung low against the biting headwind. Her hands in her pockets.

Her mind was so wrapped up in her missing fiancé and injured friend that she'd momentarily forgotten about the sleazebag fan.

Half a block behind the redhead, el creepo seemed oblivious to the winter wind. He concentrated on keeping Ms. Watson in his sights. Once and for all he was going to make her his and he was just waiting for the perfect opportunity.

He closed the distance.

X x x x x x

Spider-man soared through the high-rises, making a beeline for MJ's apartment. He hit the building with a thud and peered into the window. Empty. Without hesitation, he headed towards the theatre where her show was currently running. A quick looked into a darkened interior told him no one was there.

"Where would she be?" He looked around hoping for an idea to her whereabouts. "I bet she's with Aunt May."

He was about to web over to his Aunt's place when he recognized a figure below him. He webbed down in front of the young woman startling her. "Hi, Louise."

The brunette inhaled sharply. "Spider-man, you surprised me!"

"Have you seen Mary Jane?"

"Not today. If she's not at her apartment, she might be at the hospital."

"Hospital? What's wrong?"

"Oh, she's okay. She would be visiting a friend there."

"Thanks." Spider-man shot into the air heading towards the hospital.

Louise muttered, "Can I give her a message for you if I see her?"

X x x x x x

"Brrr, just half a block to go." Mary Jane was shocked back to the present day when she was grabbed from behind and shoved down an alley.

Without wasting a precious second, her hand closed around the pepper spray that she kept handy in her pocket. In one move she had it out and sprayed the ice blue eyes of her attacker. As he stumbled back from the stinging assault she nailed him in the groin with a hard kick. She raised her junk-ladened purse preparing to pummel him over the head with it when she heard the unmistakable click of a handgun.

She froze.

"Freeze. Police."

She took a deep breath and relaxed. "It's about time you got here."

"Sorry Ms. Watson. You're a difficult person to keep up with. By the looks like you don't need Spider-man. You handled yourself pretty well there."

Cuffing the fan, the detective steered him towards the police cruiser. "You have the right to remain silent…."

"I sure hope you really don't not need Spider-man."

Mary Jane gasped as she looked up. "Pete…..uh, Spider-man!"

He jumped off the wall, landing effortlessly beside her. Not even letting her ask the obvious question, he grabbed her face in his palms and planted a cloth-barrier kiss on her mouth.

"That would be so much better without your this." She snatched his mask half off, exposing his mouth, clutched his face in her hands and performed oral surgery.

After an eternity, he reluctantly broke contact and just rested his forehead on hers. Not breaking their connection she whispered, "Where have you been?"

X x x x x x

"Margarite, I can't thank you enough for taking care of my Peter. I've been so worried about him."

The four people sat around a small table at a little out of the way Italian restaurant, each person digging deep for that extra little bit of money to celebrate.

"Nonsense, Mary Jane. It was my chance to finally show this young man how much he really is appreciated by this town. Too bad he just didn't realize what he had done to deserve it."

"Hey, I'm just glad I finally remembered."

"When did you recall who you were?"

"When I got whacked on the head."

Margarite and JP burst out laughing while Mary Jane tilted her head in puzzlement.

JP raised his rootbeer, "To Peter, aka you-know-who."

"Here here."

X x x x x x x x x

Standing in his doorway, Peter whispered, "I missed you so much." She stood there, her arms wrapped snuggly around his waist afraid to let him go again. MJ reluctantly broke apart from Peter; she held on to his fingertips to the last second. Glancing around to look at his face she descended the stairs.

Hands stuffed into his pockets, he stood at the bedroom window watching as she slipped out of sight. His stare changed to the alley across the street and on an empty refrigerator box.


End file.
